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American  Engineers 

Remind  the 

Battle  Lines  in  France 


TOMLIN 


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American  Engineers 
Behind  the  Battle  Lines  in  France 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/americanengineerOOtomlrich 


I 


American  Engineers 
Behind  the  Battle  Lines  in  France 


By 

ROBERT  K.  TOMLIN,  Jr. 

War  Correspondent  for  the  McGraw-Hill  Publications 


FIRST  EDITION 


PUBLISHED    BY 

ENGINEERING  NEWS-RECORD 


McGRAW-HILL  BOOK  COMPANY,  Inc. 

Sole  Selling  Agents 

239  WEST  39th  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

1918 


Copyright,  1918,  by  the 
McGRAW-HILL  BOOK  COMPANY,  Inc. 


PREFACE 


Last  December  when  Mr.  Tomlin,  formerly  managing  editor  of  Engineering  News-Record,  went 
to  France  as  war  correspondent  of  the  McGraw-Hill  engineering  pubUcations,  he  went  as  a  pioneer. 
No  other  technical  publication  in  this  country  was  similarly  represented  at  the  front,  and  though  he 
went  armed  with  letters  of  introduction  and  the  authority  of  our  War  Department  to  get  and  print  what- 
ever the  British  and  French  censors  deemed  proper,  >there  was  no  certainty  that  the  busy  officers  directing 
the  great  engineering  programs  would  have  time  to  tell  him  their  stories,  or  that  the  censors  would 
permit  him  to  publish  them.  Mr.  Tomlin  writes  in  glowing  terms,  however,  of  the  full  cooperation  he 
has  had  from  officers  and  censors.  Everywhere  he  has  been  shown  over  the  work  and  been  given  as 
much  information  as  could  be  consistently  done — and  everywhere  there  has  been  appreciation  of  the 
journalistic  need  for  prompt  attention. 

The  first  articles,  of  course,  were  largely  general.  The  work  was  just  being  organized.  The  first, 
second  and  fourth  articles  are  confined  to  the  organization  of  road  building,  railway  yard  and  terminal 
development,  and  hght  railway  construction,  and  an  outline  of  some  of  the  problems  to  be  solved,  and 
the  third,  also  in  the  general  preliminary  class,  relates  to  the  inspection  of  French  quarries  by  American 
engineers.  In  the  fifth  we  first  see  the  engineers  actually  on  construction,  in  the  varied  activities  of  the 
railway  regiment.  In  the  remaining  articles,  with  the  exception  of  that  on  "  Water-supply  at  the  Front 
in  France,"  which  again  tells  only  of  the  organization  and  the  general  problems — we  also  get  details. 
Besides  the  views  of  road  building  and  the  Hght  railways  at  close  range,  supplementing  the  first  and 
fourth  articles,  we  have  an  article  on  the  industrial  problems  at  a  shrapnel  plant,  one  on  map-making  in 
air  and  on  the  ground,  one  on  the  construction  of  an  advance  depot  and  two  on  the  work  of  the  army 
engineer  school — which  is  far  in  advance  of  anything  of  the  kind  in  this  country  before  this  year. 

The  articles  are  here  gathered  together  in  book  form  because  of  the  great  interest  they  have 
aroused,  and  the  assistance  they  have  rendered  army  officers  engaged  in  this  country  in  training  men 
for  the  front. 

Engineering  News-Record. 


386941 


■^ 


CONTENTS 


PAGB 

Preface      V 

American  RoAD-BuiLDiNa  Work  in  French  War  Zone  Organized 1 

American  Railway  Yard  and  Terminal  Development  in  France  Presents  Many  New  Problems         .       .  4 

French  Quarries  Inspected  by  U.  S.  Engineers 6 

Large  Mileage  op  Light  Railways  Will  Serve  American  Troops  at  the  Front 9 

Railway  Regiment  Handles  Jobs  of  All  Kinds  in  France 13 

Human  Problem  Thought  of  Paramount  Importance  in  Paris  Shrapnel  Plant    .       . , 17 

Water-supply  A*r  the  Front  in  France 21 

Road  Builders  at  Work  Close  to  Front  op  American  Sector  in  Franc^e 28 

Army  Topographical  Division  Co-ordinates  Work  op  Map  Makers  in  Air  and  on  Groubd     ....  32 

Along  the  British  Front  by  Light  Railway 37 

The  Light  Railway  Along  the  British  Front  at  Close  Range 41 

Engineers  Convert  French  Beet-sugar  Fields  into  Advance  Depot 49 

Army  Engineer  School  in  France  Standardizes  Work  in  the  Field 55 

Army  Engineer  School  in  France  Standardizes  Work  in  the  Field — {Continued) 61 

American-built  Docks  in  France  Completed  by  Pacific  Coast  Engineers 65 

Roads  in  Base  Section  op  American  Forces  Require  Widening  and  Resurfacing 74 

American  Army's  Water-works  Projects  in  France 79 

American  Motor  Trucks  Carry  Water  Purification  Plant 83 

American  Intermediate  Depot  in  France.     Problem  in  Getting  Labor  and  Supplies 86 


American  Road-Building  Work  inJFrench 

War  Zone  Organized >.: 

Inspection  of  British  and  French  Systems  by  United  States  Highway  Engmeer  Officers  Aids  in 
Development  of  Methods — Waterbound  Macadam  the  Main  ReUance 

By  ROBERT  K.  TOMLIN,  JR. 

Formerly  Managing  Editor,  and  now  War  Correspondent  ' 

in  France,  of  "Engineering  News-Record" 


AMERICAN  road  construction  and  maintenance 
f-\  work  in  that  part  of  France  assigned  to  United 
-^  -^  States  troops  has  been  definitely  organized,  and  I 
was  given  an  opportunity  at  the  office  of  the  Director 
General  of  Transportation,  American  Expeditionary 
Force,  of  learning  some  of  the  general  features  of  how 
the  immense  task  of  maintaining  our  highway  lines  of 
communication  will  be  handled.  As  yet  no  large-scale 
field  operations  have  been  undertaken  by  our  road-build- 
ing forces,  but  the  nucleus  of  American  engineer  of- 
ficers, who  were  sent  to  France  some  time  ago,  and  who 
will  become  the  administrative  heads  in  charge  of  the 
several  subdivisions  of  the  great  project,  have  been 
spending  their  time  in  inspections  of  the  British  and 
French  lines  of  communication,  in  conferences  with  the 
officers  in  charge  of  these  operations  for  our  Allies,  and 
in  formulating  plans  for  our  own  work.  As  a  result  of 
this  cooperation  our  road  engineers  have  been  able  to 
utilize  to  great  advantage  the  experiences  of  the  French 
and  British  and  to  blend  these  with  the  best  American 
practice  in  mapping  out  the  work  to  which  they  have 
been  assigned. 

The  Manager  of  Roads 

All  road-building  and  maintenance  work  in  the  Ameri- 
can territory  has  been  placed  under  the  general  control 
of  the  Director  General  of  Transportation,  who  has 
delegated  the  responsibility  for  all  highway  operations 
to  a  Manager  of  Roads,  with  an  organization  of  his 
own.  The  Manager  of  Roads  is  well  known  profession- 
ally, a  member  of  both  the  American  Society  of  Civil 
Engineers  and  the  British  Institution  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, and  recently  gave  up  his  consulting  practice  to 
become  one  of  the  administrative  heads  of  a  commission 
directing  municipal  subway  construction  operations  in- 
volving the  expenditure  of  many  millions  of  dollars.  It 
is  not  permitted  to  mention  by  name  the  men  who  are 
handling  the  road  work.  The  Manager  of  Roads  will 
concern  himself  principally  with  the  executive  end  of 
the  highway  work,  while  the  actual  field  operations  will 
be  in  the  hands  of  special  road  building  and  quarry  regi- 
ments, such  as  those  in  behalf  of  which  Engineering 
Netos-Record  conducted  its  recent  recruiting  campaigns. 
The  relations  between  the  staff  of  the  Road  Manager 
and  the  technical  troops  in  the  field  will  be  somewhat 
similar  to  those  which  ordinarily  exist  between  a  State 
Highway  Department  and  a  contractor.  The  Office  of 
Road  Manager,  however,  will  not  only  designate  where 
work  will  be  done,  but  will  also  relieve  the  field  officers 
of  the  routine  involved  in  getting  shipments  of  construc- 
tion plant,  materials  and  supplies  to  specific  places  and 

[ 


at  specific  times.  The  Road  Manager's  oflSce  will  be,  in 
effect,  a  sort  of  clearing-house,  a  place  where  the  efforts 
of  the  various  construction  regiments  will  be  coordi- 
nated and  rendered  of  maximum  value.  It  will  serve 
also  as  a  sort  of  priority  board  in  the  distribution  of 
such  materials  as  the  output  of  crushed  stone  from 
quarries. 

Work  Departmentalized 

Under  the  Road  Manager  will  be  various  department 
heads.  The  organization  chart,  which  I  was  permitted 
to  examine,  shows  such  titles  as  Deputy  Manager  of 
Roads,  Road  Engineer,  Assistant  Road  Engineer,  Super- 
intendent of  Supplies,  Superintendent  of  Equipment 
(who  will  be  a  mechanical  engineer),  Superintendent  of 
Quarries,  Engineer  of  Bridges,  and,  a  very  significant 
title,  Superintendent  of  Business  Affairs.  There  will 
also  be  a  General  Superintendent  of  Construction  and 
division  engineers  assigned  to  prescribed  areas  occupied 
by  American  troops.  The  organization  scheme  was  de- 
veloped only  after  a  careful  study  of  the  British  and 
French  systems. 

In  making  a  tour  of  the  office  of  the  Road  Manager 
I  saw  many  familiar  faces.  There  were  engineers  from 
State  Highway  Departments,  who  know  construction 
methods  in  detail,  men  who  have  seen  service  in  United 
States  Office  of  Public  Roads  at  Washington,  men  who 
have  formerly  been  consulting  engineers  and  city  en- 
gineers back  in  the  "States";  men  who  had  served  on 
the  faculties  of  our  engineering  colleges ;  bridge  design- 
ers, computers,  and  so  on,  right  down  the  line  to 
draftsmen,  clerks  and  stenographers.  All,  of  course, 
were  in  uniform,  with  the  castle  insignia  on  collar  band 
denoting  the  Corps  of  Engineers.  It  is  no  inexperienced 
corps  of  road  builders  who  form  this  staff  of  the  Man- 
ager of  Roads.  Each  is  a  specialist  in  his  line,  with 
years  of  practical  training  back  of  him,  and  when  I 
left  the  building  I  carried  away  the  impression  that  our 
highway  work  is  in  the  hands  of  men  eminently  quali- 
fied for  the  work  to  be  done — men  who  have  given  up 
positions  of  great  responsibility  back  home  to  place  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Government  their  specialized  knowl- 
edge of  engineering  administration  and  of  the  various 
branches  of  road  construction  and  maintenance. 

So  much  for  the  general  scheme  of  organization — and 
it  must  be  stated  in  general  terms  only,  for  these  are 
not  times  when  it  is  desirable  to  be  specific.  The  road 
building  and  quarry  regiments  from  the  States  will 
reach  the  scene  of  action  completely  equipped  with  the 
construction  plant  necessary  to  the  efficient  conduct  of 
their  operations  in  the  field.    Much  of  the  French  work. 

1     ] 


I  learn,  hao  been  done  by  hahd.  For  example,  a  French 
officer  told  me  yesterday  that  the  bulk  of  the  stone  he 
used  for  road  rnairite^ance  work  was  quarried  and 
crushed  by  hand.  With  mechanical  crushers  the  Ameri- 
can forces  will  be  able  to  effect  a  great  increase  in  out- 
put of  crushed  stone  from  quarries.  And  on  this  subject 
of  crushers  an  interesting  point  developed.  It  appears 
that  the  prevalent  rock  for  road  building  in  France  is 
a  very  soft  limestone,  so  soft,  in  fact,  that  it  is  apt  to 
clog  a  crusher  of  the  gyratory  type.  For  this  material, 
therefore,  a  jaw-crusher  rather  than  a  gyratory  crusher 
would  seem  to  be  best  adapted. 

British  and  French  Methods 

I  have  said  before  that  the  American  road  engineers 
have  been  making  frequent  trips  back  of  the  British 
and  French  lines.  They  told  me  some  of  the  results 
of  their  observations.  The  waterbound  macadam  road 
is  in  almost  universal  use,  although,  I  believe,  the  Brit- 
ish have  a  small  mileage  of  tarred  surface.  From  what 
I  can  learn  the  caption  "Macadam  Roads  Best  for  War 
Traffic,"  which  appeared  over  the  editorial  in  Engineer- 
ing News-Record  of  Sept.  13,  1917,  and  to  which  excep- 
tion was  taken  in  a  number  of  letters  to  the  editor,  needs 
no  revision.  A  tour  of  the  front,  I  have  heard,  alters 
many  preconceived  opinions  as  to  types  of  road  con- 
struction adapted  to  conditions  of  actual  warfare.  In 
any  event  I  have  not  been  able  to  verify  any  reports  as 
to  the  extensive  use  of  any  of  the  so-called  "permanent" 
types  of  road  surface  by  the  Allied  forces.  It  is  possi- 
ble, I  understand,  that  some  form  of  surface  other  than 
straight  waterbound  macadam  may  be  used  far  back 
from  the  front-line  trenches,  but  macadam  seems  to  be 
the  main  reliance  in  any  territory  where  operations  are 
at  all  active. 

American  highway  engineers  seem  to  be  greatly 
pleased  with  the  properties  of  the  French  limestone  as 
a  material  for  speedy  road  construction.  It  is  very  soft, 
and  compacts  quite  readily  under  a  road  roller,  and  is 
the  chief  reliance  as  a  road-building  material,  although 
it  requires  constant  maintenance.  A  limited  amount  of 
trap-rock  is  available  and  a  French  engineer,  now  re- 
turned from  active  service,  told  me  on  his  section  of 
road  work  he  employed  slag  successfully.  The  roads 
where  the  slag  was  used,  however,  were  near  industrial 
centers  where  supplies  of  this  material  could  be  secured 
without  the  necessity  of  a  long  haul.  One  objection  to 
the  waterbound  macadam  road,  I  find,  is  the  dust  which 
rises  from  it  under  traffic  during  dry  periods  in  sum- 
mer. Some  use  of  oil  as  a  binder  and  dust  palliative 
may  be  tried,  but  I  hear  that  it  is  next  to  impossible  to 
secure  any  quantity  of  bituminous  material  for  road 
work  in  France  today.  In  certain  of  the  towns  near 
the  front  there  are  large  signs  along  the  roadside  cau- 
tioning the  drivers  of  motor  trucks,  or  camions  as  they 
call  them  here,  to  drive  slowly.  Fast  driving,  with  itr> 
attendant  dust  clouds,  is  apt  to  draw  artillery  fire  on 
the  roads. 

Maintenance  the  Chief  Problem 

The  chief  problems  of  the  American  road-builders 
over  here  will  relate  to  maintenance,  as  the  mileage  of 


existing  French  roads  is  very  great ;  one  estimate  placed 
it  at  1  mile  of  road  to  every  Ih  sq.mi.  of  ground  surface. 
New  construction  will  take  the  form  of  widening  roads 
already  built.  While  the  French  national  roads  have 
ample  widths,  some  of  the  secondary  routes  having 
widths  of  18  ft.  must  be  widened  to  about  34  ft.  These 
roads  generally  have  extensive  berms  so  that  the  widen- 
ing operation  merely  entails  the  placing  of  road  metal 
on  both  sides  for  the  extra  width  desired  without  dis- 
turbing the  existing  drainage  ditches  or  interrupting 
traffic.  Where  new  roads  must  be  built  observers  state 
that  the  French  lay  the  bottom  course  of  one-man  stone 
by  hand,  while  it  is  common  in  British  military  practice 
merely  to  dump  th'e  stone  for  the  bottom  course  directly 
upon  the  subgrade  without  any  very  refined  attempt  in 
the  placing  of  the  stone.  On  this  base  course,  10  or 
12  in.  in  thickness,  is  spread  a  layer  of  2i-in.  stone  and 
on  top  screenings  are  placed  and  rolled.  The  English 
have  used  tarring  to  a  limited  extent,  generally  in  the 
vicinity  of  hospitals. 

Military  roads  of  course  are  subjected  to  unusually 
severe  loadings  and  the  "tank,"  with  its  cleated  cater- 
pillar traction  bands — a  load  of  perhaps  30  tons  on  a 
4-ft.  wheel  base — is  a  disturbing  factor  to  the  officer  in 
charge  of  road-maintenance.  Artillery  loads  of  18  tons 
on  one  axle,  I  am  told,  are  not  unusual.  As  for  the  tank, 
I  understand  that  it  kept  off  the  roads  wherever  possi- 
ble ;  if  it  must  take  to  the  right  of  way  a  road-mainte- 
nance crew  follows  in  its  wake.  The  tank  also  has  given 
the  bridge  builders  something  to  worry  about. 

Plank  Roads  Near  Front 

Where  highways  must  be  advanced  close  to  the  front 
lines  the  construction  type  takes  the  form  of  plank  road. 
In  this  territory  the  ground  may  be  merely  a  succession 
of  shell  craters,  so  irregular  in  surface  contour  as  to 
preclude  any  of  the  ordinary  types  of  construction  with- 
out elaborate  grading  operations.  In  this  work  plank 
of  a  standard  length  and  cross-sectional  area,  5x9  in. 
by  9  ft.  is  employed.  Three  of  these  planks  are  laid 
parallel  to  the  longitudinal  axis  of  the  road,  like  bridge 
stringers,  and  the  surface  timbers  are  laid  transversely 
on  the  stringers,  to  which  they  are  spiked.  At  each  side 
longitudinal  guard  timbers  are  spiked  and  the  surface 
is  built  wit^  a  pitch  of  3  in.  toward  one  side  to  shed 
water.  This  plank  construction  generally  is  only  wide 
enough  for  one-way  traffic. 

American  officers  are  enthusiastic  over  the  excellent*' 
system  of  traffic  regulation  on  military  roads  used  by 
the  English.  At  specified  points  military  "traffic  cops" 
are  stationed  and  are  provided  with  red,  green  and 
white  signals— flags  by  day  and  small  lamps  by  night. 
A  red  signal  brings  traffic  to  a  stop,  green  slows  it  down, 
while  white  means  "all  clear."  When  large  stores  of 
munitions  and  supplies  are  in  transit  the  traffic  is  said 
to  compare  in  density  to  that  on  Fifth  Avenue,  New 
York,  while  the  actual  tonnage,  of  course,  is  much 
greater. 

It  may  happen  that  a  brigade  of  artillery,  stationed 
in  fields  alongside  the  road,  is  suddenly  called  into  ac- 
tion. The  road  police  stop  all  motor-truck  traffic  in- 
stantly, get  the  right-of-way  clear  so  that  the  artillery 


may  reach  its  position  without  delay.  Another  feature 
of  the  road  work  is  the  prevalence  of  the  large  sign- 
boards indicating  the  way  to  different  towns. 

At  night,  of  course,  it  is  dangerous  for  vehicles  to 
show  lights,  and  to  aid  the  driver  in  keeping  on  the 
right-of-way  wooden  pickets,  whitewashed,  are  driven 
along  the  outer  edges  of  the  roads  at  about  10-ft.  in- 
tervals. I  was  talking  last  night  to  an  American  am- 
bulance driver  who  had  seen  service  in  the  Verdun 
sector,  and  he  told  me  that  it  was  a  favorite  stunt  of 
the  Boche  airmen  to  fly  over  the  road  at  night  when 
supplies  were  being  brought  up  and  rake  the  center  line 
with  machine  guns  in  an  effort  to  "get"  the  drivers  of 
the  camions. 

On  the  question  of  plant  for  road  building,  the  Ameri- 
can engineer  officers  with  whom  I  spoke  pointed  out  the 
danger  of  a  steam-roller  near  the  front.  Puffs  of  smoke 
or  exhaust  steam  disclose  the  position  of  work  to  the 
enemy.  Gasoline-driven  machines  are  preferred  on  ac- 
count of  what  I  suppose  a  naval  man  would  call  their 


"low  visibility,"  although  the  steam  outfits  are  useful 
further  back.  The  exhaust  steam  and  smoke  from  a 
road  roller  makes  a  fine  target  for  shells  or  bombs,  and 
much  of  the  road  work  must  be  done  in  the  danger  zone. 
In  regard  to  gasoline  machines,  the  single-cylinder  type 
is  not  regarded  with  favor,  preference  being  given  to 
the  two-cylinder  machine  as  more  dependable.  If  the 
engine  stalls  it  is  generally  a  long  way  back  home. 

Narrow-gage  track  is  a  big  factor  in  the  transporta- 
tion problem  and  I  hope  in  later  reports  to  give  some 
of  the  details  as  to  laying  and  handling  of  these  units. 
Standard-gage  railroad  track,  narrow-gage  industrial 
track,  and  waterbound  macadam  highway  for  motor- 
truck traffic  form  the  great  triumvirate  of  transporta- 
tion used  in  France  today.  It  is  significant  in  the 
scheme  of  organization  behind  the  fighting  front  that 
the  control  of  all  of  these  aids  to  the  movement  of 
supplies,  munitions  and  men,  is  centralized  in  one  de- 
partment, that  of  Director  General  of  Transportation. 


[     3     ] 


American  Railway  Yard  and  Terminal  Development 
in  France  Presents  Many  New  Problems 

Engineers  Preparing  for  Big  Construction  Program  at  French  Seaports — At  Docking  Basins  Readjustment 
of  Track  System  for  American  Rolling  Stock  Is  Necessary — Training  School  for  Traffic  Officers  Proposed 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

"Eng-ineering  News-Record's"   War   Correspondent   in   France 


TRACKAGE  in  railway  yards  alone  equivalent  in 
aggregate  length  to  a  standard-gage  line  from  New 
York  to  Chicago  is  merely  one  detail  of  the  colossal 
program  of  construction  which  the  occupation  of 
French  territory  by  the  ultimate  quota  of  the  American 
Expeditionary  Force  has  demanded.  And  let  it  be 
understood  at  the  outset  that  this  does  not  include 
main-line  construction  and  repair  or  narrow-gage,  light 
railway  track;  it  is  merely  the  new  trackage  required 
in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  huge  seaport  freight 
terminals,  classification  depots  and  warehouses  which 
United  States  forces  are  building  or  planning  to  build 
in  France  in  order  that  supplies  and  munitions  in 
staggering  quantities  may  be  received  and  routed  ex- 
peditiously from  ships  to  points  at  the  front.  This 
information  I  obtained  in  interviews  with  two  of  the 
high  ranking  officers  on  the  staff  of  the  director  general 
of  transportation— one  the  general  manager,  and  the 
other  the  engineer  of  design  and  construction.  Both 
held  high  executive  positions  in  a  large  railroad  organi- 
zation before  the  war. 

Transportation  the  Immediate  Need 

Without  doubt  transportation  is  the  immediate  big 
business  of  the  war  for  us.  Practically  everything 
which  our  fighting  forces  will  need  in  the  conduct  of 
field  operations  must  come  from  across  the  Atlantic, 
for  the  available  supply  of  local  equipment  for  American 
troops  is  almost  negligible.  The  problem  resolves  itself, 
therefore,  into  one  of  providing  facilities  for  receiving 
huge  volumes  of  freight  at  the  waterfront,  and  either 
delivering  it  to  the  interior  or  storing  it  for  future 
use.  As  one  engineer  officer  expressed  it,  this  phase 
of  our  task  is  not  war  in  the  popular  conception  of  the 
word,  but  a  gigantic  business  enterprise,  which,  to 
insure  success,  must  be  conducted  on  the  best  American 
business  principles. 

Along  with  the  railway  yard  construction  work  will 
go  the  building  of  innumerable  storehouses  and  classi- 
fication depots,  the  provision  of  mechanical  equipment 
for  the  handling  of  freight,  and  the  enlargement  of 
port  facilities  such  as  wharves  and  docks. 

It  was  impressed  upon  me  very  forcibly  that  the 
great  need  now  is  for  cars,  which  must  all  come  from 
the  States,  for  crews  to  load  and  unload  them,  and  for 
a  skilled  force  to  operate  the  trains  between  French 
seaports  and  our  supply  bases  behind  the  fighting  front. 

The  task  of  our  engineer  officers  and  men  in  pro- 
viding terminal  and  transportation  facilities  over  here 
is  complicated  by  many  difficulties  which  railway  oper- 
ators or  constructors  in  the  United  States  do  not 
experience.  First  of  all,  there  are  differences  between 
French  and  American  railway  practice  which  must  be 

[     4 


adjusted  before  effective  work  can  be  done.  It  should 
be  realized,  however,  that  existing  French  main-line 
track  is  in  good  condition,  available  for  the  use  of 
our  rolling  stock,  and  that  tales  of  new  four-track 
lines  across  France,  to  be  built  by  American  forces, 
are  absolutely  without  foundation.  The  big  problem 
is  the  terminal  problem. 

Differences  in  Practice 

In  the  matter  of  main-line  track  gage  the  French 
roads  are  very  nearly  the  same  as  our  own,  and  slight 
adjustments  in  the  wheel  coning  of  our  rolling  stock 
will  render  it  serviceable  on  French  track.  The  French 
operating  system,  however,  is  left-handed,  and  certain 
track-construction  details  show  variations  from  Ameri- 
can practice.  French  rails,  for  example,  are  supported 
on  chairs  with  a  wedge  knocked  in  to  tighten  them, 
whole  our  rails  rest  either  direct  on  the  ties  or  on 
metal  tieplates.  French  rail  joints  are  placed  opposite 
each  other  instead  of  being  staggered.  In  the  matter 
of  curves  the  French  work  upon  a  scale  of  meters  of 
radius,  while  American  railway  men  deal  in  degrees 
of  curvature. 

As  the  first  stage  in  the  mapping  out  of  the  Ameri- 
can railroad  work  our  engineers  have  collected  and 
are  studying  and  redrawing  to  a  new  scale  existing 
French  plans.  Here  again  new  conditions  must  be 
faced.  European  methods  of  showing  things  on  blue 
prints  differ  from  our  own,  and  all  of  the  lettering, 
of  course,  is  in  French.  Interpreters,  to  be  sure,  are 
available,  but  or  the  most  part  they  are  laymen,  whiU^ 
the  accurate  interpretation  of  the  data  on  the  French 
plans  calls  in  many  cases  for  the  services  of  technical 
specialists  who  understand  both  English  and  French 
engineering  terms.  Dimensions  and  quantities  are  in 
the  metric  system,  and  in  the  hands  of  men  who  have 
been  dealing  principally  with  feet,  inches  and  cubic 
yards  in  their  own  work  at  hon^ie  the  French  units 
are  not  so  easily  handled  at  first. 

Much  Preliminary  Work 

It  therefore  can  be  seen  that  before  any  large  scale 
construction  operations  are  possible  a  tremendous 
amount  of  preliminary  work  must  be  done  in  order  to 
establish  what  might  be  called  a  uniform  datum  plane, 
from  which  effective  coordinated  effort  must  start.  It 
is  this  preliminary  work,  this  business  of  taking  stock 
of  existing  facilities  and  fitting  them  into  the  plans 
for  the  future,  that  has  been  the  chief  task  of  our 
American  railway  and  terminal  engineers. 

Just  what  the  new  work  will  involve  can  be  stated 
only  in  rather  vague  terms.  In  addition  to  the  railway 
yards  and  terminal  structures  there  will  be  regulating 
yards  whose   function  will   be  to   preserve   a  proper 

] 


balance  of  traffic  between  the  storage  yards  and  main- 
line tracks  leading  to  the  front — a  sort  of  compensating 
reservoir,  to  maintain  a  smooth,  steady  flow  of  traffic. 
Innumerable  sidings  will  have  to  be  built  to  hospitals, 
sawmills  (where  our  forestry  regiments  will  work 
cutting  French  timber),  bakeries  and  various  other 
structures.  New  engine  terminals  are  included  in  the 
project,  and  connections  must  be  made  to  our  ordnance 
and  munitions  stores.  The  latter  must  be  located  at 
least  half  a  mile  distant  from  main-line  track  and 
buildings,  and  the  type  of  construction,  I  am  told,  will 
be  scattered  units,  in  order  to  minimize  the  effects  of 
explosions  or  bombing  from  enemy  airplanes. 

Dock  and  Terminal  Structures 

To  get  back  to  the  railway  terminal  and  dock  struc- 
tures, the  freight  classification  sheds  are  to  be  long 
buildings  50  ft.  in  width  with  8-ft.  platforms  and 
depressed  track  on  the  outgoing  side.  I  asked  the 
chief  engineer  what  material  would  be  used  for  these 
buildings.    His  reply  was,  "Anything  we  can  get." 

Ships  will  also  dock  in  rectangular  basins  which, 
as  built  by  the  French,  require  entrance  locks,  as  the 
variation  in  tide  is  considerable.  Parallel  to  the  sides 
and  ends  of  these  basins  three  lines  of  track  will  be 
laid  where  feasible  and  as  much  freight  as  possible  will 
into  cars.  The  remainder  will  be  delivered  to  the 
classification  sheds  just  back  of  the  tracks  which  extend 
around  the  sides  of  the  docking  basins. 

Some  readjustment  of  the  basin  trackage  system 
where  existing  docks  are  to  be  used  will  be  required 
to  adapt  it  to  the  use  of  American  rolling  stock.  As 
now  built,  the  tracks  make  right-angled  turns  at  the 
corners  of  the  basin  and  by  means  of  turntables  the 
French  cars,  on  four  wheels,  negotiate  changes  of 
direction.  Our  freight  cars,  of  course,  will  be  carried 
by  two  four-wheeled  trucks  and  will  be  too  long  for 
the  turntables.  This  condition  of  affairs  means  the 
ultimate  ripping  out  of  the  turntable  system  and  a 
rearrangement  of  trackage  to  provide  curves  which 
our  cars  can  negotiate,  instead  of  right-angle  turns. 

For  the  terminal  structures  of  various  sorts  tentative 
plans  were  prepared,  and  it  is  an  index  of  the  sort 
of  things  our  engineers  are  confronted  with  to  find 
out  that  many  of  these  will  have  to  be  substantially 
revised  on  account  of  the  low  stresses  which  must 
prevail  when  certain  French  timber  is  used.  For 
example,  certain  wood  roof-truss  designs  based  on  the 
use  of  timber  commonly  employed  for  this  purpose  in 
the  States  are  practically  useless,  for  the  lengths  and 


the  strengths  of  French  timber  are  much  inferior  to 
those  of  American-grown  material.  I  hear  that  it  is 
impossible  to  get  French  timber  piles  more  than  45 
ft.  in  length. 

Large  Labor  Force  Needed 

All  of  this  railway  and  terminal  construction  program 
calls  for  a  large  labor  force.  Local  labor,  in  so  far  as 
it  can  be  obtained,  will  be  used,  but  the  bulk  of  the 
work  must  be  done  by  men  brought  over  form  the 
States.  In  addition  to  the  construction  men  there 
must  be  large  quotas  of  stevedores.  All  will  be  under 
military  regulation.  On  some  of  the  English  military 
projects  great  forces  of  Chinese  labor  have  been  em- 
ployed. At  the  present  writing  the  railway  terminal 
and  dock  work  is  being  done  by  United  States  troops 
of  all  kinds — marines,  line  troops  and  engineer  units. 
When  the  labor  battalions  arrive  from  the  States  these 
men  will  be  assigned  to  other  duties.  Among  the 
wielders  of  pick  and  shovel  in  one  of  the  temporary 
construction  units  is  the  son  of  a  very  wealthy  man. 
"To  think,"  he  said,  "that  I  had  to  get  letters  of  recom- 
mendation from  two  men  high  up  in  official  life  at 
Washington  to  secure  this  job." 

As  for  the  operating  end  of  the  system  which  the 
American  Expeditionary  Force  will  control,  its  organi- 
zation, according  to  what  the  general  manager  told 
me,  will  follow  almost  exactly  that  of  the  best  large 
American  railways,  with  general  manager,  general 
superintendent,  master  mechanic  and  so  on  down  the 
line.  There  is  one  post  to  be  created  here,  however, 
which  has  no  counterpart  in  American  railway  prac- 
tice. This  is  the  R.  T.  0. — railway  traffic  officer.  He 
was  defined  for  me  as  a  "100%  man."  Here  are  the 
constituent  parts  of  this  remarkable  individual:  "25% 
military,  25%  French,  25%  diplomat,  25%  railway 
man."  In  addition,  I  was  told,  he  must  be  able  to  work 
about  22  hours  out  of  every  4.  "It  will  be  hard  to 
find  men  of  this  type,"  the  general  manager  continues: 
"In  fact  we  are  making  plans  now  to  establish  a  train- 
ing school  for  them.  There  will  be  a  number  of  these 
R.T.O's  stationed  at  various  points  on  the  system,  and 
to  my  mind  the  best  raw  material  to  work  on  will  be 
a  type  represented  by  the  highest  class  of  station  agent. 
The  job  of  the  R.T.O.  will  be  to  keep  traffic  moving 
and  straighten  out  all  difficulties  which  may  crop  up  in 
his  territory.  Upon  them  will  rest  responsibility  for 
teamwork  with  the  French  railway  operators  at  im- 
portant points  of  junction  with  the  American  system.** 
The  R.T.O.  on  military  railways  is  a  development  of 
British  methods  of  organization. 


{    5     ] 


French  Quarries  Inspected  by  U.  S.  Engineers 

In  900-Mile  AutomobUe  Trip  Two  Officers  Find  Hand  Labor  the  Prevailing  Method 
of  Operation — Average  Daily  Output  1  to  I5  Metric  Tons  Per  Man 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

"Engineering  News-Record's"  War  Correspondent  in  France 


WITH  up-to-date  mechanical  equipment  installed  in 
those  French  quarries  which  will  be  worked 
ultimately  by  American  forces  to  supply  crushed  rock 
for  military  road  building  and  track  ballast,  it  is  hoped 
that  substantial  increases  in  the  present  output  per 
man  per  day  may  be  made.  Under  the  present  methods 
of  operation  by  the  French  the  average  daily  output  per 
man  is  from  1  to  li  metric  tons.  In  order  to  get  first- 
hand information  regarding  French  quarry  resources 
in  the  territory  which  our  troops  will  occupy,  the 
manager  of  roads,  American  Expeditionary  Force,  dele- 
gated two  of  his  officers  to  make  an  inspection  trip. 
The  engineers,  one  formerly  in  the  quarry  business 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  the  other  a  former  representa- 
tive of  a  large  machinery  manufacturing  company, 
have  just  completed  their  mission,  which  involved  a 
900-mile  automobile  journey,  and  have  told  me  in  a 
general  way  the  results  of  their  observations. 

Almost  the  first  thing  an  engineer  learns  in  France 
is  that  mechanical  equipment  of  any  kind,  except  in 
the  plants  now  working  on  munitions  and  other  war 
material,  is  about  as  difficult  to  get  as  white  bread, 
or  telephone   service   which   has   even   the   semblance 


of  efficiency.  And  so,  while  one  can  make  all  sorts  of 
estimates  of  quarry  output  with  mechanical  plant,  the 
first  real  big  job  is  to  land  the  machinery  and  the 
men  to  operate  it  safely  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic. 
Then  the  output  will  very  largely  take  care  of  itself. 
With  regard  to  the  French  quarries,  however,  I  am  told 
that  with  a  few  exceptions  hand  labor  has  been  the 
chief  reliance  ever  since  the  war  began.  No  local 
quarries  are  being  worked  by  American  forces  at  this 
writing,  and  until  some  definite  arrangement  is  made 
with  the  French  for  the  taking  over  of  quarries  in 
certain  territory  by  our  men,  very  little  can  be  said 
on  the  subject. 

The  labor  used  in  the  French  quarries  which  were 
visited  by  the  two  engineers  of  the  road  department 
of  our  army  is  to  a  large  extent  African,  although 
some  French  workers  are  used.  Sometimes  an  Ingersoll- 
Rand  compressor  and  jackhamer  drills  were  in  evidence, 
but  for  the  most  part  the  drilling  is  done  by  hand. 
I  was  told  that  the  rate  of  drilling  was  from  1  to 
14  meters  per  man  daily.  The  rock  is  a  soft  limestone, 
with  layers  of  clay  intervening.  The  quarries  as  a  rule 
are  worked  in  low  faces,  and  drill  holes  are  commonly 


French  Official  Photo 

IN  THE  FRENCH  METHOD  OF  QUARRY  OPERATION  HAND  LABOR  HAS  BEEN 


""D  TO  A  LARGE  EXTENT 


[  6  ] 


French  Official  Pictures 


DELIVERY  QUARRY  OUTPUT  TO  CRUSHERS — NOTE  GABLED  SHAPE  OF  MOTOR-TRUCK  BOTTOM  IN 
FOREGROUND — DUMPING  BODIES  ON  TRUCKS  VERY  UNUSUAL 


about  8  ft.  deep.  After  being  broken  out  by  explosives, 
the  rock  is  fed  into  small  jaw  crushers,  or  else  reduced 
in  size  by  hand  tools.  The  rock  is  screened  i^  inclined 
grizzlies  with  i-in.  spacing,  and  for  breaking  the  large 
chunks  one  of  the  prevailing  implements  is  a  small 
hammer  on  the  end  of  what  is  described  as  a  "bamboo 
cane."  Such  mechanical  crushers  as  were  observed 
were  run  with  any  kind  of  power  available — sometimes 
steam,  sometimes  gasoline,  sometimes  electricity. 


Most  of  the  loading  into  cars  is  hand  work,  and  a 
radical  difference  between  these  wartime  quarries  and 
the  kind  an  American  engineer  is  accustomed  to  is  the 
absence  of  storage  bins.  This  lack  of  bins  was  noted 
throughout  their  trip  by  the  two  American  engineer 
officers.  All  rock  storage  of  the  smaller  quarries  is 
either  in  stockpiles  on  the  ground  or  in  the  cars  them- 
selves. Two  reasons  are  advanced  for  this  practice. 
In  the  first  place,  lumber  in   France  is  pretty  much 


French  Official  Pictures 

AT    THIS    QUARRY    MECHANICAL    PLANT    IS    MORE   IN    EVIDENCE— NOTE  LOADING  OF  TRUCKS  FROM  CHUTB5S 


[     7     ] 


of  a  luxury  these  days,  and  in  the  second,  a  group  of 
storage  bins  might  tempt  an  enemy  airman  to  a  test 
of  his  markmanship  with  high-explosive  bombs.  As  a 
means  of  increasing  output  in  any  quarries  which 
American  forces  may  operate,  it  is  the  intention  to 
dispense  with  hand  loading  of  cars  to  as  great  an  extent 
as  possible.  Much  of  the  crushed  rock,  I  learn,  is 
transported  by  means  of  the  French  system  of  canals 
in  boatloads  of  250  metric  tons  each. 

There  is  one  French  quarry  of  large  size  where  trap- 
rock  is  procured  and  where  crushers  and  mechanical 
devices  of  various  kinds  are  more  in  evidence  than  at 
the  smaller  limestone  quarries.  This  big  quarry  is  in 
the  form  of  a  large  "glory  hole"  which  is  worked  in 
six  benches  each  25  ft.  high.  The  stone,  however,  is 
lowered  in  cars  on  gravity  planes  to  the  tunnel  level 
instead  of  being  drawn  through  chutes.     The  output 


of  this  quarry  is  600  tons  a  day  with  a  force  of  abou: 
400  men.  Steam-driven  air  compressors,  tripod  drilh, 
jackhamers  and  mechanical  chain  haulage  through  i 
long  tunnel  are  features  of  these  works.  The  storage;, 
however,  is  principally  on  the  ground  or  in  the  small 
wooden  quarry  cars,  of  which  there  are  about  1500. 
This  is  the  biggest  of  the  French  quarries,  and  trap 
rock  is  shipped  from  it  by  rail  to  points  as  far  distant 
as  150  miles. 

From  my  conversation  with  the  engineers  who  in- 
spected the  -French  quarries,  I  infer  that  our  chief  taslc 
in  procuring  crushed  rock  for  road  construction  ami 
maintenance  will  be  to  revise  the  operating  system  no\/ 
in  force  with  a  view  to  securing  greater  output  witli 
fewer  men.  This  will  mean  the  installation  of  up-to- 
date  machinery,  the  provision  of  elevated  storage  capac  - 
ity,  and  the  speeding  up  of  car  loading. 


[    8    ] 


Large  Mileage  of  Light  Railways  Will  Serve 
American  Troops  at  the  Front 

Department  Organized  for  Big  Construction  Program — Relation  of  Light  Railways  and  Highways  Explained- 
Narrow-Gage  Lines  Have  Been  Big  Factors  in  Relieving  Congestion  of  Motor  Trucks  on  Roads 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

"Engineering  News-Record's"  War  Correspondent  in  France 


FOLLOWING  the  experience  of  the  French  and 
British  armies,  the  American  Expeditionary  Force 
is  preparing  to  construct  in  France  a  large  mileage  of 
"light  railways" — 60-centimeter  gage — as  a  part  of  the 
necessary  transportation  system  serving  the  troops  at 
the  front.  These  railways  are  the  connecting  links,  to 
a  great  extent,  between  the  railroads  or  termini  of  the 
standard-gage  lines  and  the  trenches  and  batteries.  The 
service  which  the  light  railways  render  is  also  closely 
coordinated  with  that  of  the  military  highways. 

An  indication  of  the  importance  which  is  attached  to 
the  light  railway  work  is  gained  from  the  fact  that  the 
director  general  of  transportation  has  created  a  special 
department  to  have  charge  of  the  construction,  main- 
tenance and  repair  of  these  lines  of  communication  and 
of  the  equipment  used  in  their  operation.  At  the  head 
of  this  organization  is  one  of  the  high  ranking  engineer 
officers  of  the  American  Army.  Associated  with  him  in 
tlie  administrative  headquarters  of  the  department  are 
men,  all  engineer  oificers,  of  the  following  caliber :  One, 
in  civil  life,  is  president  of  an  American  railway;  an- 
other is  a  vice  president  and  general  manager;  a  third 
bears  the  title  of  chief  engineer  of  a  system  in  the  west- 
ern part  of  the  States;  a  fourth  is  assistant  general 
superintendent  of  lines  in  the  East;  a  fifth  is  master 
mechanic,  a  man  with  a  wealth  of  practical  experience, 
to  whom  will  be  entrusted  the  upkeep  and  repair  of 
equipment  in  the  engine  terminals  and  machine  shops 
which  form  an  important  part  of  the  light  railway 
project. 

As  the  result  of  a  conference  with  these  officers,  I 
have  been  given  the  following  information  regarding 


French  Official  Photo 


GERMAN  PRISONERS  MOVING  LOAD  OF  LIGHT  RAILWAY  TRACK  SECTIONS 
"N  THE  REGION  OF  THE  MARNE 


one  of  the  most  important  phases  of  our  military  trans- 
portation problems: 

Early  in  the  war  it  was  found  that  to  undertake  the 
supply  of  the  front  lines  with  motor  trucks  required 
such  a  great  number  of  them  that  the  highways  were 
continually  congested.  It  was  found,  too,  that  this  ex- 
cessive motor  traffic  soon  wore  the  roads  down  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  greater  part  of  the  motor  trucks 
were  required  to  haul  road  material  to  repair  the  dam- 
age caused  by  their  own  traffic.  The  light  railways  were 
developed  to  overcome  these  difficulties,  and  they  have 
been  so  successful  that  it  is  possible  now  to  keep  the 
highways  in  repair  and  to  devote  them  entirely  to  the 
use  of  fast-moving  automobiles,  motorcycles  and  motor 
trucks.  In  short,  heavy  and  bulky  traffic  is  moved  on 
the  railways;  light  and  fast  traffic  on  the  highways. 

The  function  of  the  light  railways  is  to  carry  forward 
as  near  to  the  front  as  possible  ammunition,  f orage„ 
road  material,  rations,  lumber,  fuel  and  miscellaneous- 
engineer  supplies.  They  are  also  used  in  transporting- 
troops,  and  wounded  men  are  brought  back  from  the 
front  on  these  lines  in  better  condition  than  by  road 
ambulances.  In  addition,  artillery  trains,  having  guns 
mounted  on  specially  constructed  cars,  are  moved  on 
these  railways;  as  the  position  of  these  guns  can  thus, 
be  quickly  changed  they  are  not  so  likely  to  be  accu- 
rately located  by  the  enemy. 

The  location  of  light  railway  lines  requires  consider- 
able skill.  They  must  be  located  so  that  they  are  con- 
cealed from  the  enemy  as  far  as  possible.  They  should 
not  be  under  direct  observation,  and,  if  located  so  that 

they  do  not  show  up  in  aero- 
photographs  too  prominent- 
ly, the  chances  of  their  be- 
ing hit  by  shell  fire  is  mini- 
mized. With  advantage  tak- 
en of  woods  and  rough  fea- 
tures of  the  ground,  lines 
can  oftentimes  be  built  so 
as  to  be  invisible  to  the  aero- 
plane. Lines  must  be  lo- 
cated to  follow  the  contour 
of  the  ground  as  nearby  as 
possible,  thus  minimizing 
damage  to  the  country  and 
permitting  the  greatest  ra- 
pidity in  construction. 

On  an  average,  1000  men 
can  grade,  lay  and  ballast  a 
mile  of  track  in  a  day. 
Grades  are  usually  restricted 
to  not  more  than  3  to  4%, 
but  in  some  instances  this  ia 


[    9     ] 


exceeded,  and  sharp  curvature,  30-meter  radius,  is  often 
used.  The  roadbed  is  usually  9  ft.  wide  on  top ;  cuts  are 
14  ft.  wide  on  the  base,  with  side  ditches,  leaving  a 
9-ft.  crown. 

The  track  is  60-centimeter  gage  (221  in.) ;  the  rails 
are  generally  20  lb.  to  the  yard,  but  American  track  will 
be  constructed  with  rails  weighing  25  lb.  per  yard, 
boTted  to  steel  ties.  The  ties  are  43  in.  long,  5i  in.  wide 
and  f3.  in.  thick.  Wood  ties  4  x  6  in.  by  4  ft.  6  in.,  how- 
ever, are  used  under  certain  conditions.  The  rails  are 
received  in  5-meter  lengths  (15.4),  and  the  track  is 
assembled  and  bolted,  eight  ties  to  a  section,  before  be- 
ing sent  to  the  front.  These  sections  of  tracks  are  con- 
nected on  the  grade.  It  has  been  found  that  the  track 
must  be  well  ballasted,  and  for  this  purpose  gravel, 
broken  stone,  broken  brick,  slag  and  cinders  are  used. 

These  lines  radiate  in  various  directions  toward  the 
front  from  the  broad-gage  railheads,  so  that  a  con- 
siderable mileage  is  embraced  in  one  group  or  system. 
Oftentimes  the  ends  of  these  spurs  will  be  linked  up  by 
a  connecting  line  which,  in  a  general  way,  parallels  the 
front-line  trenches.  Thus  a  system  sometimes  shows 
up  as  a  series  of  loops ;  in  other  cases  a  system  assumes 
a  tree  formation,  with  main  trunk  and  branches. 

The  American  equipment  consists  of  steam  locomo- 
tives of  the  2-6-2  type,  weighing  about  17  tons,  built  by 
the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  and  having  a  tractive 
effort  of  6200  lb.  The  cars  are  of  the  gondola  type, 
about  17  ft.  long  and  5  ft.  wide,  with  a  capacity  of  10 
tons.  A  certain  number  of  box,  flat  and  tank  and  ambu- 
lance cars  are  also  used.  The  steam  locomotives  oper- 
ate to  within  a  certain  distance  of  the  front — up  to  a 
point  where  smoke  and  steam  would  betray  their  pres- 
ence to  the  enemy,  after 
which  the  cars  are  taken  stiil 
farther  forward  by  gasoline 
locomotives,  and  final  dis- 
tribution of  supplies  to 
some  of  the  most  advanced 
points  is  made  by  motor 
trucks,  by  animal  traction, 
occasionally  by  cableway  or 
rope  tramway,  by  pack  mules 
and  by  hand.  The  lines 
are  also  laid  into  quarries 
where  road  material  is  ob- 
tained, and  into  forests 
where  lumber  and  fuel  are 
loaded  directly  for  the  front. 

The  hard  usage  to  which 
the  equipment  is  necessarily 
subjected,  and  the  dainage 
or  destruction  of  equipment 
by  shell  fire,  make  necessary, 
of  course,  a  large  force  of 
skilled  mechanics,  shop 
equipment  and  an  abundant 
reserve  of  materials. 

A  great  amount  of  crushed 
stone  is  hauled  by  these 
railways  and  set  out  on  spurs 
alongside  the  highways, 
whence  it  is  distributed  by 


the  road  motor  trucks.  To  appreciate  fully  to  what 
extent  these  railways  have  relieved  the  highways,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  remember  that  the  average  motor  truck 
carries  3  tons,  and  the  average  light  railway  train  of 
6  cars  carries  60  tons,  thus  doing  the  work  of  20  trucks. 
From  one  railhead  on  the  British  front,  a  single  line 
of  light  railway  recently  handled  2100  tons  in  a  day, 
or  700  motor  truck  loads. 

With  a  low  maximum  speed,  an  average  train  run  of 
only  a  few  miles,  and  such  a  network  of  tracks  that  only 
the  initiated  can  distinguish  between  main  lines  and 
branches,  it  goes  without  saying  that  no  very  elaborate 
methods  of  train  dispatching  and  signalling  are  re- 
quired. However,  it  rarely  pays  to  install  double  track, 
and  the  intensive  use  of  single  track  lines,  together  with 
the  frequent  interruptions  to  traffic  in  forward  areas 
due  to  enemy  shell  fire,  make  the  personal  equation  in 
dispatching  of  great  importance.  Rules  are  necessarily 
few  and  simple.  Both  British  and  French  methods  of 
operation  reflect  to  some  extent  their  broadgage  prac- 
tice, and  similarly  employees  of  American  military  rail- 
roads find  their  work  simplified  by  rules  which  follow 
certain  rudimentary  principles  of  American  Railway 
Association  practice.  A  simple  form  of  telephone  train 
dispatching,  combined  with  a  modified  block  system,  has 
been  found  most  practicable.  While  every  effort  is 
made  to  operate  without  waste,  the  primary  object  of 
the  light  railways  is  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  armies 
in  the  field,  and  no  questions  of  economy  are  permitted 
to  interfere  with  regularity  and  reliability  of  service. 

The  orders  placed  in  the  United  States  for  locomo- 
tives, both  steam  and  gas,  cars  and  track  material,  some 
of  which  have  already  been  received  in  France,  indicate 


"^''^-■«>«i««ai»*' 

French  Official  Photo 

ONE   OF  THE   GASOLINE  LOCOMOTIVES   USED   ON  LIGHT   RAILWAYS  NEAR 
FRONT — NOTE   SECTIONS    OF   TRACK  PILED   IN   BACKGROUND 

[     10     ] 


I 


that  the  U.  S.  /\rmy  will  be  provided  with  as  many 
thoroughly  equipped  miles  of  light  railway  as  it  can 
use. 

The  sections  of  light  railway  track  are  transported 
to  the  work  in  various  ways — sometimes  on  standard- 
gage  cars,  sometimes  on  motor  trucks,  sometimes  along 
existing  light  railway  track,  or  by  a  combination  of  any 
cr  all  of  these  transportation  facilities.  At  the  main 
yards  cranes,  where  available,  will  be  used  for  loading 
the  sections  of  track  for  transport,  but  in  the  actual 
construction  of  these  narrow-gage  lines  no  plant  is  re- 
quired. In  fact,  this  need  for  nothing  but  manual  labor 
is  one  ol  the  features  which  make  the  light  railways  so 


use  of  both  steel  and  wood  ties  for  supporting  the  light 
railways.  Steel  ties  will  be  the  prevailing  type,  but 
the  wood  ties  will  be  employed  where  a  large  bearing 
area  is  needed,  as,  for  example,  where  the  ground  is 
soft  or  where  the  curvature  is  sharp.  Sometimes,  of 
course,  stone  ballast  may  be  scarce,  and  here  again  the 
wood  tie,  with  a  bearing  area  greater  than  that  of  the 
steel  tie,  will  serve  a  useful  purpose. 

As  for  the  ballast,  the  intention  is  to  secure  most  of 
it  from  quarries  operated  by  the  Department  of  Roads 
(highways),  but  a  limited  supply  is  obtainable  from  the 
shattered  remains  of  brick  and  stone  buildings  in  the 
devasted  areas.    Whole  brick,  however,  are  exceedingly 


French  Official  Photo 

THE   LIGHT    RAILWAY   IS    USED   EXTENSIVELY   TO    DELIVER  ROCK  FOR  ROAD  CONSTRUCTION 


admirably  adapted  for  work  in  the  field  of  enemy 
observation  and  fire.  In  one  sector  where  artillery 
operations  were  active,  I  am  told,  a  single  line  of  light 
railway  was  broken  and  repaired  95  times  in  one  day. 

In  some  areas  which  have  been  heavily  shelled  it  is 
necessary  to  advance  lines  of  light  railway  over  "rights- 
of-way"  which  are  literally  pockmarked  by  craters  rang- 
ing in  size  from  slight  depressions  to  deep,  wide  gullies. 
Here  the  needs  of  the  moment  determine  the  methods  of 
procedure.  If  a  large  labor  force  is  available  the  pits 
are  filled  in  and  roughly  graded.  When  the  work  can 
be  done  more  quickly  by  carrying  the  lines  across  the 
craters  on  timber  grillages  this  form  of  construction 
is  employed — provided  timber  is  available.  It  is  situa- 
tions such  as  these  that  bring  out  the  resourcefulness  of 
the  engineer.  His  job  is  to  advance  the  lines  or  to 
repair  a  broken  section,  and  any  method  which  ac- 
complishes this  end,  and  accomplishes  it  with  speed,  is 
acceptable. 

In  a  preceding  paragraph  reference  was  made  to  the 


valuable  in  France  at  present,  and  use  of  this  material 
is  permitted  on  the  basis  of  culling  out  the  whole  brick 
from  the  debris  and  carrying  away  only  the  bats  for 
railway  ballast  purposes.  The  Department  of  Light 
Railways  will  work  in  close  cooperation  with  the  man- 
ager of  roads  in  this  matter  of  the  production  and 
transportation  of  crushed  stone. 

The  location  of  the  light  railway  lines  involves  also 
some  topographical  surveying  work,  and  parties  are  now 
collegting  the  data  from  which  contour  maps  are  being 
prepared.  Officers  have  been  out  over  the  territory 
where  it  is  probable  that  our  network  of  light  railways 
will  me  built  and  have  done  a  great  deal  of  rough 
reconnaissance  work  as  a  preliminary  to  actual  con- 
struction. 

The  man  who  visits  the  headquarters  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Light  Railways  and  talks  to  the  engineer 
officers  who  are  directing  its  activities,  as  I  have  done, 
is  impressed  at  once  by  their  enthusiasm  for  the  work  in 
hand.    Their  experience  on  standard-gage  lines  back  in 


[     11     ] 


the  States,  an  invaluable  asset  over  here,  is  being  di-  some  technical  problem.     There  is  more  to  it.     These 

verted  into  new  channels  of  usefulness,  and  there  is  in  little   railway  lines — almost   toy   railroads   in   appear- 

the  planning  and  execution  of  the  light-railway  project  ance — will  form  a  great  steel  web  over  the  American 

for  war  service  enough  of  novelty  to  take  it  out  of  the  sectors,  and  on  the  integrity  of  its  double  bands  of  steel 

class  of  routine  and  make  it  a  new  and  intensely  in-  will  depend,  in  large  measure,  the  effectiveness  of  the 

teresting  job.     And  yet  the  satisfaction  which  these  fight  we  are  to  wage  and  the  speedy  transport  of  our 

engineers  are  getting  in  the  performance  of  the  duties  wounded  to  the  rear.    Here  is  work,  therefore,  that  calls 

to  which  they  have  been  assigned  is  not  that,   if  I  for  the  best  there  is  in  the  engineer,  and  that  best  is 

interpret  signs  correctly,  of  the  man  who  merely  solves  being  given  freely. 


[  n  ] 


Railway  Regiment  Handles  Jobs  of  All 

Kinds  in  France 

Organized  Primarily  For  Track   Construction,  Operation  and   Maintenance,  the  "Steenth' 

Engineers  Have,  as  a  Side  Line,  Built  Dams,  Hospitals,  and  Even 

Installed  Plumbing  Fixtures  and  Baking  Ovens 

By  ROBERT  K.  TOMLIN,  JR. 

Paris  Representative  of  Engineering  News-Record 


TO  KNOW  that  the  "Steenth"  Engineers  are  with 
the  American  Expeditionary  Forces,  and  that  they 
are  engaged  on  railway  construction  somewhere  in 
France,  is  of  course  a  starting  point  for  the  corre- 
spondent of  a  technical  journal  who  wants  to  send  back 
to  his  paper  a  story  on  the  work  that  these  troops  are 
doing,  but  it  is  like  one  of  those  town  constable  "clues" 
of  the  "ten-twenty-thirty"  melodrama — a  mighty 
elusive  thing  when  you  attempt  to  crystallize  it  into 
something  specific.  It's  a  "clue" — and  that  is  about  all 
you  can  say  of  it.  For  our  people  over  here  are  not 
advertising  their  whereabouts  or  the  details  of  the 
work  they  are  doing.  On  the  contrary,  pretty  definite 
instructions  have  gone  out  to  our  forces  to  do  no 
promiscuous  talking ;  so  any  civilian,  even  with  the  best 
of  credentials,  is  apt  to  chase  around  in  circles  if  he 
approaches  an  ofl[icer  through  irregular  channels  with 
such  words  as  "where,"  "what,"  "who,"  "why,"  or  any 
other  members  of  the  great  family  of  interrogatives. 
And  all  this,  of  course,  is  as  it  should  be,  for  enemy 
agents  may  be  anywhere  and  any  sort  of  information 
may  be  useful  to  them. 

Still  I  had  my  "clue" — the  "Steenth"  Engineers  were 
in  France  and  were  doing  railway  work — and  by  piec- 
ing together  bits  of  information  from  here  and  there, 
I  finally  reached  a  decision  as  to  where  I  thought  they 
might  be,  and  made  plans  to  pay  a  visit  to  their  head- 


CONCRETB   HAND-MIXED   FOR    NEW   TRACK   LAYOUT    AT 
DOCKING  BASIN 


quarters.  Now  to  begin  with,  this  matter  of  making 
a  railroad  trip  in  France  is  not  so  simple  as  it  sounds. 
It  is  by  no  means  a  case  of  merely  choosing  your  desti- 
nation, buying  a  ticket  and  getting  aboard.  You  can't 
travel  anywhere  these  days  without  a  permit,  and  you 
must  have  mighty  good  reasons  before  any  such  permit 
is  forthcoming.  After  being  over  here  a  while  you  get 
the  impression  that  a  very  large  percentage  of  French 
police  and  railway  officialdom  has  been  delegated  to  the 
job  of  asking  the  question  "why?"  But  the  reasons 
for  my  trip  apparently  were  sufficient  and  I  managed 
to  secure  my  "laissez  passer." 

The  selection  of  a  train  is  the  easiest  part  of  the 
whole  procedure — there  is  generally  only  one  train  a 
day  to  anywhere.  The  purchase  of  a  railroad  ticket, 
however,  is  possible  only  after  submitting  your  pass  to 
the  gendarme,  one  of  whom  guards  the  approach  to 
each  ticket  office.  When  this  formality  is  completed  you 
pass  by  armed  guards  at  the  gateway  to  the  train — 
wondering  if  they  too  will  hold  you  up  again  at  the 
last  minute — and  finally  you  get  aboard. 

And  so  it  was  that  I  started  on  my  quest  of  the 
"Steenth"  Engineers.  It  was  an  all-day  trip  across 
fiat  country,  and  the  chief  item  of  interest  en  route  was 
our  passage  under  a  veritable  flock  of  airplanes  in  the 
vicinity  of  an  aviation  school.  As  our  train  went 
puffing  along,  planes  were  above  us  and  on  both  sides, 
racing  along  beside  our  car,  and  cutting  across  the 
tracks  ahead  and  behind  like  a  school  of  porpoises  play- 
ing alongside  a  ship.  We  reached  our  destination,  a 
little  town  on  the  French  coast,  at  dusk,  and  after 
again  going  through  the  formalities  of  showing  passes 
and  telling  why  I  thought  I  should  be  so  far  away  from 
Paris,  I  was  allowed  to  leave  the  dingy  railroad  station 
and  put  in  for  the  night  at  a  ramshackle  hotel,  where 
every  board  on  the  uncarpeted  floor  creaked  with  the 
weight  of  passersby,  where  the  electric  light  was  just 
a  dull,  depressing  glow  away  up  in  the  corner  of  the 
high  ceiling,  and  where  the  wind  moaned  down  the 
bleak,  bare  corridor's  and  through  chinks  in  the  door 
in  fitful  gusts.  But  in  the  morning  things  looked  more 
cheerful.  The  sun,  which  has  been  a  missing  quantity 
in  Paris  for  almost  a  month,  broke  out  like  an  omen 
of  good  luck,  and  after  a  hurried  "petit  dejeuner"  of 
chocolate  and  brown  war  bread  I  set  forth  in  search 
of  my  engineer  regiment.  I  first  made  inquiry  of  the 
American  military  police,  who  are  stationed  along  all 
the  principal  streets  of  the  little  seacoast  town,  and 
ended  by  going  for  more  detailed  information  to  the 
local  office  of  the  American  Provost  Marshal.  Here, 
after  some  delay  in  looking  up  records,  I  was  informed 
[     13     ] 


NEW  AUTOMATIC  ASSEMBLING  PLANT  IS  STEEL  FRAME  STRUCTURE  WITH   GLASS   SIDES  AND  MONITOR 


that  my  goal  was  "Camp  No.  1,  about  two  and  a  half 
miles   out  of  town." 

My  "clue"  apparently  was  developing  nicely.  The 
"Steenth"  Engineers  were  actually  within  striking  dis- 
tance, and  in  buoyant  spirits  I  left  the  Provost  Mar- 
shal's office  in  search  of  some  conveyance  which  would 
take  me  to  camp.  In  these  war  times  transportation 
throughout  France  is  badly  crippled.  The  automobile 
is  practically  extinct,  even  in  Paris,  and  the  only  thing 
available  there  is  the  taxi  or  fiacre.  In  the  little  sea- 
port where  I  had  landed  the  previous  night  I  had  a  very 
clear  premonition  that  taxis  were  an  unknown  luxury, 
but  I  went  scouting  about  the  streets  until  I  finally 
located  a  "seagoing"  hack,  a  brokendown  affair  with  a 
cripple  of  a  horse  sagging  between  its  shafts.  It  seemed 
like  a  forlorn  hope,  but  these  are  not  times  for  fastidious 
tastes,  so  I  hailed  the  driver  and  managed  to  convey 
the  idea  that  I  wanted  to  be  taken  to  Camp  No.  1.  The 
driver  "got  me"  finally,  and  after  belaboring  his  poor 
nag,  which  was  in  a  sort  of  semi-comatose  state,  we 
got  under  way.  It  was  rough  going  and  slow.  The 
road  we  took  evidently  had  been  used  for  heavy  motor 
truck  haulage  and  was  pretty  well  broken  up  and  rutted. 
However,  my  skipper  appeared  to  know  the  channels  and 
at  last  a  sign  with  "Camp  No.  1"  painted  on  it  in  big 
black  letters  loomed  up  off  our  starboard  bow.  After 
making  a  turn  to  the  right  we  were  hauled  up  sharp 
by  a  sentry.  I  had  my  papers  out  of  my  breast 
pocket  in  a  jiffy — it  is  surprising  how  practice  makes 
this  business  of  flashing  credentials  almost  automatic; 
with  me  now  it  comes  as  easy  as  the  hip-pocket  motion 
of  the  Western  "gunman"  who  is  always  getting  the 
"drop"  on  some  one. 

"What  do  you  want  here?"  said  the  man  in  uniform, 
lifter  scanning  the  documents  which  I  handed  him. 

"I  have  come  to  see  Colonel  S ,  of  the  'Steenth' 

Engineers,"  I  replied.  He  looked  puzzled  for  a  moment. 
"The  'Steenth'  Engineers,"  he  repeated ;  "why,  they  ain't 
here  any  more!" 

In  my  early  dpys  in  France  this  information,  de- 
livered at  the  end  of  many  weary  hours  of  travel,  might 
have  had  the  effect  of  a  knockout  blow,  but  one  thing 

[     14 


I  have  learned  since  I  have  been  over  here  is  that 
"no"  sometimes  means  "no,"  and  then  again  it  may  mean 
something  else.  Things  are  shifting  rapidly.  Units 
come  and  go.  A  man  or  a  regiment  may  be  here  one 
week  and  hundreds  of  miles  distant  the  next,  so  there  is 
every  reason  for  a  poor  sentry  to  become  muddled  in 
his  knowledge  of  the  location  of  troops  even  in  his 
own  camp.  At  any  rate,  I  did  not  intend  to  give  up 
my  "clue"  without  a  fight. 

"You  must  be  mistaken,"  I  said  to  the  man  who 
barred  my  road,  although  the  conviction  I  tried  to 
throw  into  the  words  had  very  little  solid  foundation 
to  rest  upon.  "I  know  that  the  'Steenth'  Engineers  are 
here  and  I  have  an  important  message  to  deliver  to 
the  Colonel." 

"Wait  a  minute,"  said  the  sentry,  and  he  marched 
off  to  confer  with  a  non-commissioned  officer  of  the 
guard.     While  this  parley  was  in  progress  a  captain 


RIPRAP    AT    ROADSIDE    WAITING    FOR    TP  \NSPORT    TO 
EARTH  DAM 


walked  by  and  to  my  delight  I  saw  the  castle  insignia 
of  the  engineers  on  his  collar  band. 

"Captain,"  I  shouted,  ''can  you  tell  me  how  to  reach 
Colonel  S of  the  'Steenth'  Engineers?" 

"Certainly,"  replied  the  officer,  "his  headquarters  are 
right  over  there.  I'm  going  there  myself ;  come  along." 
Never  did  more  heartening  words  pass  the  lips  of  any 
man  than  those  which  I  had  just  heard.  With  a  wave 
to  my  sentry,  who  came  to  the  present  arms  as  I  passed 
him  with  my  Heaven-sent  convoy,  and  a  signal  to  my 
cabby    to    let    go    anchor — an    unnecessary    detail,    as 


has  included  pretty  nearly  everything  from  the  actual 
laying  of  railroad  track  of  the  installation  of  a  baking 
oven  and  shower-baths  in  one  of  the  base  hospitals. 

The  immediate  big  task  of  the  "Steenth"  Engineers, 
however,  is  the  development  of  ocean  and  railway  ter- 
minal facilities  at  the  French  seaport  near  its  main 
camp.  This  problem  was  outlined  briefly  in  a  former 
article  (see  Engineering  News-Record,  p.  348,  Feb. 
21,  1918).  The  job  consists  essentially  in  rearranging 
the  track  system  which  serves  the  docking  basins  and 
in  providing  an  immense  new  freight  classification  and 


THIRTY-THOUSAND    YARD    EARTH    DAM    AT    FRENCH    SEAPORT    BUILT    WITH    PICK    AND    SHOVEL 


both  he  and  his  horse  had  passed  away  by  this  time — 
I  climbed  up  a  steep  bank  from  the  roadside,  and 
there,  about  a  hundred  yards  away  was  a  long  low 
wooden  shack  with  a  sign  bearing  the  magic  words 
"Headquarters,  'Steenth'  Engineers."  I  had  reached 
port  at  last! 

Headquarters  was  a  busy  place.  Typewriters  were 
clicking  away  noisily.  Uniformed  men  were  bent  over 
drafting  boards.  Others  were  engaged,  apparently,  in 
computing  work.  A  group  of  surveying  instruments 
was  stacked  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  and  a  first 
sergeant,  coatless,  with  sleeves  rolled  up  elbow  high, 
was  busy  with  a  batch  of  reports  which  he  was  filling 
out  on  a  sort  of  combination  desk  and  military  trunk. 
To  him  I  presented  my  card  and  was  soon  escorted  to 
the  Colonel's  private  room.    The  Colonel  had  left  town, 

I  was  informed,,  but  Major  A ,  in  command  of  the 

unit  during  his  absence,  gave  me  a  hearty  greeting. 

Now  the  "Steenth"  Engineers  is  one  of  the  so-called 
"Railway  Regiments"  which  were  recruited  with  volun- 
teers early  in  the  war,  and  were  among  the  first  Ameri- 
can troops  to  arrive  in  France.  This  particular  unit 
is  made  up  very  largely,  although  not  exclusively,  of 
men  from  the  South.  About  1200  strong  when  it  left  the 
states,  it  has  grown  in  numbers,  principally  by  the 
addition  of  labor  battalions,  until  its  quota  is  now  sev- 
eral thousand  men.  Its  operations  cover  a  territory 
about  210  miles  long  and  150  miles  wide,  and  its  work 

•I 


storage  yard  on  the  flat  lands  which  flank  the  water- 
front. There  are  projected  also  four  new  steamship 
piers,  each  1000  ft,  long,  with  the  necessary  unloading 
equipment  and  trackage  to  hook  them  up  to  the  freight 
classification  yard  and  storehouses.  These  new  piers, 
which  will  have  a  30  ft.  depth  of  water,  will  have  a 
docking  capacity  sufficient  for  16  ships  at  one  time. 

Work  on  the  big  railway  yard  is  now  in  progress. 
The  job  is  essentially  one  of  track  laying  and  very 
light  grading  as  the  ground  is  practically  flat.  Steam 
shovels  are  at  work  in  a  borrow  pit  delivering  sand 
for  track  ballast,  as  this  material,  it  has  been  found, 
will  answer  the  purpose  well  enough;  crushed  rock  is 
a  very  difficult  commodity  to  secure.  At  the  time  of  my 
visit  one  Marion  steam  shovel  was  in  operation  and 
two  large  Bucyrus  and  one  Marion  machine  were  being 
set  up.  Other  equipment  included  half  a  dozen  loco- 
motive cranes  of  from  5  to  10  tons  capacity.  The  in- 
stallation of  the  trackage  in  the  railway  yards  is  calling 
for  a  sand  fill  of  about  a  foot  or  so  over  the  entire 
area.  But  the  tracks  are,  of  course,  only  part  of  the 
project.  There  will  be  4,000,000  sq.ft.  of  covered 
freight  storage  structures  and  about  9,000,000  sq.ft. 
of  uncovered  storage  area.  Steel  for  some  of  these 
buildings  is  on  the  ground  and  I  saw  a  few  of  the  bents 
in  course  of  erection.  All  connections  are  bolted,  as 
there  are  no  facilities  here  for  riveting. 

At   the   existing   docks    American   labor   units    and 
15     J  - 


gangs  of  German  prisoners  were  rearranging  the  track- 
age system  and  replacing  the  French  turntables,  which 
are  too  short  for  American  rolling  stock,  with  curved 
track  and  switches.  A  small  amount  of  concrete  was 
being  placed  between  the  rails,  but  all  of  this  was  hard 
work,  the  mixing  being  done  in  small  batches  on  wooden 
platforms  which  were  moved  about  from  place  to  place 
as  occasion  demanded.  Lack  of  construction  plant  is, 
of  course,  responsible  for  so  large  a  use  of  hand  labor 
methods.  The  engineers,  however,  are  on  the  lookout 
for  mechanical  equipment,  and  have  scouts  in  various 
parts  of  Europe  whose  job  is  to  corral  anything  that 
can  be  shipped  quickly  to  the  work.  One  of  the  officers 
of  the  "Steenth"  Engineers  who  has  had  wide  exper- 
ience in  the  purchase  of  supplies  got  news  of  a  big 
steam  shovel  in  Spain  which  had  been  used  on  some 
hydro-electric  construction  work  in  that  country. 
Agents  were  dispatched  to  round  up  this  excavator 
and  through  their  quick  action  it  was  purchased,  de- 
livered, and  set  to  work  digging  sand  for  track  ballast. 
In  like  manner  quite  a  sizable  consignment  of  railroad 
ties  from  Portugal  was  secured.  Anything  of  this  sort 
that  can  be  done  to  reduce  the  demands  on  trans- 
atlantic shipping  is  considered  good  business. 

While  the  railway  yards  and  docks  are  engaging  a 
portion  of  the  strength  of  the  "Steenth"  Engineers  there 
are  scores  of  other  jobs  which  the  organization  has  been 
called  upon  to  do.  "Although  we  are,  in  name,  a 
railway  regiment,"  Major  A —  explained,  "we  have 
tackled  about  every  sort  of  job  which  you  can  imagine 
since  we  landed  in  France.  Let  me  give  you  an  idea 
of  the  variety  of  our  program.  At  two  near-by  towns 
we  are  building  hospitals,  sewerage  systems  and  dams 
for  water-supply,  and  are  assisting  in  the  double 
tracking  of  one  of  the  French  main  line  routes  through 
anbther  town.  At  another  place  we  will  soon  begin 
construction  on  a  division  engine  terminal,  an  overhead 
railroad  crossing,  and  a  yard  for  car  erection.  Addi- 
tions to  hospitals  in  the  form  of  one-story  timber  struc- 
tures have  taken  up  a  large  part  of  our  time.  At  one 
large  base  hospital  we  are  putting  in  a  new  water- 
supply  system  which  involves  the  construction  of  a 
curved  concrete  dam  about  40  ft.  high.  For  supplying 
water  to  the  town  near  our  camp  we  have  almost 
finished  an  earth  dam  containing  about  30,000  cu.yd.  of 
material.  The  laying  of  15  miles  of  16-in.  pipe,  the 
reconstruction  of  a  water-filtration  plant  and  the  pro- 
vision of  Imhoff  tanks  for  sewage  disposal  are  other 
details  of  our  work." 

"How  about  the  German  royalties  on  the  Imhoff 
tank  patents.  Major?"  I  interrupted. 

"Let  them  come  over  and  collect  them,"  was  the 
Major's  reply. 

I  spent  the  afternoon  in  an  automobile  trip,  inspect- 
ing features  of  the  regiment's  varied  work.  The  earth 
dam  was  well  along  toward   completion,   but   it,   like 


HAND    DRILLING   IN    CUTOFF    TRENCH   FOR    CONCRETE 

DAM 

most  of  the  other  jobs,  had  been  a  hand  labor  proposi- 
tion. Shovels,  wheelbarrows,  and  a  line  of  narrow-gage 
industrial  track  and  cars  constituted  the  main  items 
of  plant  equipment.  At  the  concrete  dam  the  work 
was  in  its  initial  stages  and  the  main  operation  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  was  rock  excavation  for  the  cutoff  wall. 
This  job  has  been  let  by  the  Army  to  a  Mexican  con- 
tractor. Rock  drilling  was  as  usual  being  done  with 
hand  tools,  although  on  this  job  I  saw  two  concrete 
mixers,  the  first  machines  of  their  kind  which  have  come 
under  my  observation  since  I  have  been  in  France. 
Another  job  we  passed  by  was  a  steel  frame  structure 
which  was  being  built  for  the  assembly  and  repair  of 
motor  trucks  and  automobiles. 

This,  then,  is  a  sketch  of  the  work  which  a  "rail- 
way regiment"  has  done  and  is  planning  to  do.  But 
the  important  thing  about  it  all  is  this  fact:  No  mat- 
ter how  diversified  have  been  the  demands  upon  them, 
the  "Steenth"  Engineers  have  been  able  to  produce 
from  their  organization  men  qualified  to  handle  every 
one  of  the  scores  of  different  jobs  assigned  to  them. 


16 


Human  Problem  Thought  of  Paramount  Importance 

in  Paris  Shrapnel  Plant 

Health  of  6000  Women  Employees  in  Total  of  9000  Studiously  Safeguarded,  and  Provisions  Made  for  Care 
of  Their  Infants— Excellent  Meals  Served  at  or  Below  Cost  in  Large  Dining  Hall 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 


JF  YOU  had  been  in  Paris  three  years  ago  and  had 
decided,  in  a  whimsical  mood,  to  leave  the  beaten 
track  of  the  tourist  sightseer  and  visit  the  most  com- 
monplace and  uninteresting  spot  in  the  whole  city,  you 
could  not  have  selected  a  better  objective  than  the  strio 
of  land  which  flanks  the  River  Seine  in  the  western  out- 
skirts of  the  town,  known  as  the  Quai  de  Javel.  A  few 
rickety  buildings  of  the  typical  "shanty"  type,  a  ma- 
chine shop  or  two,  and  here  and  there  patches  of  ground 
devoted  to  truck  gardening — these  would  have  been  the 
sights  to  reward  you  for  your  trip.  But  all  this  was 
three  years  ago.  That  spot  has  since  undergone  an  al- 
most magical  transformation.  Acres  of  long,  low  build- 
ings have  sprouted  upon  it,  railroad  cars  and  motor 
trucks  are  busy  delivering  to  and  taking  away  from  it 
liuge  volumes  of  material,  men  and  women  by  the 
thousands  come  and  go  daily,  and  the  steady  hum  of 
machinery  continues  day  and  night.  And  all  of  this 
activity  is  the  result  of  a  man  with  a  purpose.  In  the 
€arly  days  of  the  war  Andre  Citroen  decided  to  manu- 
facture artillery  munitions.  He  chose  the  Quai  de  Javel 
as  the  site  for  his  plant.  Ground  for  the  foundations 
of  his  shops  was  broken  in  March,  1915,  and  four 
months  later — in  July — buildings  were  erected,  ma- 
chinery installed  and  finished  shells  were  actually  being 
shipped  to  the  front  for  use  by  the  famous  French 
^'soixante-quinzes,"  "75s." 


DINING  HALL  WHERE   2700   EMPLOYEES   CAN  BE   SEATED  AT  ONCE 
Note  the  ever-present  electric  truck  on  the  right 

[     17     ] 


But  this  was  only  the  beginning  of  things.  Citroen 
is  not  the  kind  of  man  who  is  content  to  do  things  on  a 
small  scale.  Starting  with  a  daily  output  of  10,000 
shells,  the  plant  capacity  was  soon  increased  to  20,000: 
in  1916  the  output  was  again  doubled,  and  today  the 
enlarged  works  are  delivering  the  supendous  quantity 
of  more  than  50,000  shells  every  day.  Along  with  this 
achievement  other  things  have  happened.  War's  draft 
upon  the  manhood  of  France  has  made  the  manufacture 
of  munitions  largely  woman's  work,  thereby  introducing 
into  the  industrial  problem  entirely  new  elements.  Ob- 
viously, old  precedents  had  to  be  discarded  and  new 
conceptions  of  machine  shop  administration  formed. 
To  this  task  Citroen  applied  himself  with  characteristic 
energy,  individuality  and  thoroughness,  and  created  a 
new  order  of  things  in  French  industrial  life,  the  work- 
ings of  which  I  was  permitted  to  observe  during  a  re- 
cent tour  of  the  plant.  The  outstanding  impression 
which  I  carried  away  was  this :  In  organizing  the  work 
of  producing  50,000  shells  day  after  day  at  the  Citroen 
plant,  the  human  problem — the  problem  of  the  worker 
as  a  woman  or  man — has  received  fully  as  much  at- 
tention by  the  executive  heads  of  the  company  as  has 
the  problem  of  machines  and  materials. 

My  visit  to  the  great  munition-producing  center  was 
arranged  through  the  French  "Maison  de  la  Presse," 
and  of  course  credentials  of  one  sort  or  another  had  to 

be  vised  before  the  necessary 
permits  to  enter  the  works 
could  be  obtained.  It  was 
Thursday,  "visitor's  day,"  and 
in  our  party  of  inspection  was 
George  R  a  n  d  o  Ip  h  Chester, 
creator  of  "Get-Rich-Quick 
Wallingford,"  his  wife,  a 
French  lady  who  is  a  special- 
ist in  social  welfare  work,  a 
Spanish  journalist  and  one  or 
two  others  besides  myself. 

We  began  our  tour  through 
the  executive  oflSces,  first  visit- 
ing the  library  in  which 
100,000  volumes  are  available 
for  the  use  of  the  company's 
employees.  Then  we  passed 
through  the  chemical,  metal- 
lurgical and  testing  labora- 
tories, all  equipped  with  the 
most  up-to-date  apparatus. 
Noon  found  us  at  luncheon  in 
the  cantine,  or  huge  dining 
hall,  which  seats  2700  em- 
ployees at  one  time.    After  we 


QUARTERS    FOR   THE    CARE    OF   INFANTS    OF    WORKING     MOTHERS 

had  finished  our  meal  we  made  the  tour  of  the  various 
shops,  and  ended  by  inspecting  the  welfare  institutions 
which  form  an  important  part  of  the  administrative 
scheme  of  the  works.  Our  guide  during  the  day  was  the 
company's  dentist,  a  French  Army  officer,  who  had 
formerly  been  a  student  at  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Readers  of  Engineering  N eivs-Record  will  not 
be  interested  in  the  details  of  the  process  of  shell 
manufacture,  but  should  be  in  what  we  may  call  the 
human  side  of  the  institution — and  it  is  an  insti- 
tution. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  the   employees   numbered 
about  9000,  and  of  this  number  6000  were  women.    The 
work  is  conducted  in  two  shifts  of  about  10  hours  each. 
The  day  shift  of  6000  employees  comes  on  at  7  a.m.; 
stops  at  noon  for  depeuner   (lunch)  ;  resumes  work  at 
1 :  30  p.m.,  and  continues  until  6 :  30  p.m.     The  hours 
for  the  night  shift)  3000  em- 
ployees), are  from  7:  30  p.m. 
to  midnight,  and  from  12 :  45 
a.m.  to  6  a.m.  About  one-third 
of  the  employees  live  in  the 
immediate     vicinity     of     the 
works  and  arrive  and  depart 
on  foot.    For  the  others  there 
are    adequate    transportation 
facilities,  as  the  Qual  de  Javel 
station  of  the   "Metro"    (the 
Paris  subway)   is  only  a  few 
minutes  walk  from  the  shops, 
and  street-car  lines  are  also 
within   easy   reach. 

After  an  applicant  for  em- 
ployment has  been  examined 
by  a  superintendent  he  is  as- 
signed to  a  shop  and  receives 
a  time  card,  a  service  card,  a 
card  indicating  the  name  and 
location  of  his  particular  shop, 
the    name    of    his    foreman, 


locker  number  and  the  number 
of  the  timeclock  on  which  he 
checks  in  and  out.  By  the 
system  which  has  been  de- 
veloped a  man  can  be  set  to 
work  in  a  few  minutes.  After 
six  months  at  the  same  kind 
of  work  an  employee,  on  re- 
quest, is  assigned  to  different 
duties. 

Two  systems  of  wages  are  in 
force — payment  by  piecework 
and  by  time.    On  time  work  all 
employees      performing     the 
same  kind  of  duties  generally 
receive  the  same  wages,  but  in 
some  cases  bonuses  are  paid, 
depending  on  the  diligence  and 
capacity  of  the  worker.  Where- 
ever  possible,   however,   pay- 
ment is  made  on  the  piecework 
basis.    To  save  time  in  paying 
off  the  workers  the  following 
scheme  has  been  developed.     Only  even  sums  of  money 
are  given  out,  irrespective  of  the  actual  amount  which 
has  been  earned.    The  balance  is  credited  and  issued  on 
the  next  payday.     Payment  is  made  fortnightly  from 
about  100  windows,  and  from  each  window  sums   of 
only  one  amount  are  issued.     For  example,  there  will 
be  a  window  at  which  sums  of  70  francs — and  only 
70  francs — are  paid;  another  for  80  francs;   another 
for  90  francs ;  another  for  100  francs,  and  so  on  upward. 
In  order  to  receive  their  wages  employees  must  present 
vouchers.     To  aid  in  still  further  simplifying  the  pro- 
cedure, payment  cards  of  various  colors  are  used,  and 
the  corresponding  colors  are  painted  on  the  pay  win- 
dows.   A  bureau  for  adjusting  complaints  is  open  con- 
tinuously. 

General  or  special  announcements  to  the  force  are 
made  either  in  the  form  of  printed  sheets  or  (at  night) 


TRUCK   REMOVING   SHELL  FORGINGS    FROM   AN   INSPECTION  POINT 


[    18    ] 


of  illuminated  signs  over  the  shop  exits.  A  service  for 
investigating  absences  from  work,  by  means  of  visits  to 
the  homes  of  employees,  also  has  been  organized. 

Very  elaborate  measures  have  been  taken  to  safe- 
guard the  health  of  employees.  They  assume  two  forms ; 
prevention  and  cure.  On  the  side  of  prevention  fre- 
quent lectures  on  sanitation  and  the  care  of  the  human 
body  are  given,  there  being  special  conferences  at  which 
female  ailments  are  discussed.  Care  of  the  teeth  is 
considered  so  important  that  the  plant  employs  regu- 
larly a  staff  of  dentists,  and  has  provided  them  with 
offices  equipped  with  every  modern  dental  appliance. 
At  the  dental  rooms  100  patients  can  be  treated  every 
day.  Printed  bulletins  on  the  care  of  the  teeth  are 
issued  regularly.  Of  course  there  is  also  an  infirmary 
with  doctors,  both  male  and  female,  in  constant  attend- 
ance. 

One  of  the  most  spectacular  things  which  Monsieur 
Citroen  has  developed  is  his  cantine.  I  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  eating  luncheon  in  this 
mammoth  hall,  receiving  the 
same  fare  as  the  workers. 
And  a  mighty  good  meal  it 
was — hors  d'oeuvres,  bread, 
roast  lamb,  beans,  red  wine, 
baked  apples  and  coffee.  This 
meal,  without  the  wine,  costs 
the  employees  1.50  francs 
(26:1c.  at  the  present  rate  of 
exchange  on  French  money), 
but  I  was  informed  that  the 
company  loses  about  1  franc 
per  head  at  this  rate.  The 
food  is  cooked  in  a  large,  well 
equipped  kitchen  and  is  deliv- 
ered by  means  of  electric 
trucks  to  warming  ovens  at 
the  ends  of  the  transverse 
aisles  in  the  hall.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  job  of 
feeding   2700   people    in    one 

hall  involves  the  transport  of  food  rather  long  distances, 
and  unless  mechanical  means  were  employed  the  service 
would  be  slow  and  the  dishes  cold. 

Men  and  women  eat  together  at  the  same  tables,  and 
the  meal  is  much  more  prolonged  than  would  be  the 
case  with  American  mechanics.  An  hour  and  three- 
quarters  is  allowed  for  luncheon.  With  the  French  this 
meal  is  a  leisurely  occasion,  and  this  characteristic  was 
well  exemplified  at  the  cantine.  There  is  no  bolting  of 
food.  It  is  eaten  slowly,  between  sips  of  wine,  which  is 
supplied  at  a  small  extra  charge.  Another  point  is 
that  service  by  uniformed  waitresses  is  provided  and 
that  dishes  of  meat  and  vegetables  are  passed  to  each 
individual  so  that  taste  as  to  the  size  of  the  helping  can 
be  satisfied. 

Adjoining  the  cantine  is  a  clubroom,  where  the  em- 
ployees, men  and  women,  can  spend  what  remains  of  the 
luncheon  "hour."  I  saw  the  men  here  playing  billiards 
and  chess  and  the  women  in  groups  talking,  knitting  or 
playing  games.  This  luncheon  "hour"  forms  a  decided 
break  in  the  day's  work,  and  offers  means  of  complete 
relaxation.  Whether  or  not  it  is  his  usual  custom  I  do 
not  know,  but  on  the  day  I  visited  the  plant  M.  Citroen 

[ 


himself  ate  at  the  table  adjoining  ours  in  the  cantine. 
In  works  where  so  many  women  are  employed  the 
matter  of  childbirth  presents  a  rather  important  prob- 
lem, which  resolves  itself  into  two  main  subdivisions — 
the  woman  about  to  become  a  mother,  and  the  newly 
born  infant.  With  the  probable  increase  of  woman 
labor  in  United  States  machine  shops  this  question  is 
one  which  American  executives  cannot  dismiss  lightly. 
Here  is  the  way  the  situation  is  dealt  with  at  the  Cit- 
roen plant.  The  prospective  mother  receives  30  francs 
a  month  in  addition  to  her  regular  wages,  and  must 
visit  the  company's  doctor  twice  a  month.  When  her 
condition  becomes  such  as  to  prevent  her  from  perform- 
ing her  regular  duties  in  the  shops  she  is  sent  to  a 
hospital,  where  all  of  her  expenses  are  defrayed  by  the 
company.  After  giving  birth  to  the  child- the  woman  is 
sent  to  rest  quarters,  where  she  remains  six  weeks  be- 
fore returning  to  work. 

For  the  newly  born  infants  the  company  has  a  special 


TUBE-DRAWING  SHOP  FOR  SALVAGING  REJECTED  SHELL  BODIES 

building,  called  the  pouponniere.  Here  the  children  re- 
main day  and  night,  if  the  parents  so  desire,  under  the 
care  of  competent  nurses.  The  mother  calls  for  her 
baby  on  Saturday,  takes  it  home  over  Sunday  and  re- 
turns it  to  the  poupenniere  when  she  comes  back  to 
work  Monday  morning.  During  the  regular  hours  of 
shopwork  each  mother  is  allowed  two  periods  for  visit- 
ing and  nursing  her  child,  while  additional  visits  are 
made  befot-e  and  after  hours  and  after  luncheon. 

I  was  taken  through  the  pouponniere.  It  is  light  and 
warm,  finished  inside  with  white  and  blue  tile,  and  is 
kept  scrupulously  clean.  Every  one  of  the  30  cribs  in 
the  ward  through  which  I  passed  was  occupied  by  a 
healthy  looking  infant.  M.  Citroen,  however,  is  going 
one  step  farther  than  the  pouponniere.  He  is  now 
building  a  garderie — a  building  to  which  the  children 
from  the  pouponniere  will  be  transferred  when  they 
have  begun  to  develop.  As  an  indication  of  the  detail 
into  which  this  man  goes  when  he  undertakes  anything, 
he  has  purchased  a  large  consignment  of  puppy  dogs 
for  the  children  in  the  garderie  to  play  with.  This  in- 
stitution will  be  large  enough  to  house  at  one  time 
150  sons  and  daughters  of  the  plant's  employees. 
19     ] 


Various  educational  and  amusement  facilities  are  fur-  English,  physics,  mechanics  and  metallurgy ;  a  legal- 
nished  to  the  men  and  women  who  are  turning  out  shells  aid  department ;  a  social  club,  a  company  newspaper, 
at  this  plant  for  the  French  Army's  75-mm.  field  pieces,  and  a  library  are  a  few  of  the  special  activities. 
Every  Saturday  night  in  the  huge  cantine,  or  dining  As  we  finished  our  tour  of  the  works  and  were  about 
hall,  a  moving-picture  program  is  given.  Seats  are  to  depart,  I  turned  to  our  guide.  "What  will  become 
provided  for  3500  workers  and  members  of  their  fami-  of  this  institution,"  I  said,  "with  its  thousands  of  em- 
lies.  There  has  been  organized  among  the  employees  ployees  and  thousands  of  machines,  after  the  war,  when 
a  band  of  60  instruments,  which  gives  concerts  on  these  France  will  not  need  50,000  shrapnel  a  day?  I  sup- 
evenings.  On  Christmas  and  other  holidays  special  pose  there  will  be  a  wholesale  lay-off  of  workers."  He 
programs  of  entertainment  are  arranged.  smiled.    "On  the  day  peace  is  declared,"  he  replied,  "M. 

In  fact,  the  features  other  than  those  directly  con-  Citroen  will  have  completed  plans  for  taking  on  10,000 

nected  with  the  manufacture  of  shells  are  almost  end-  new  men  from  the  returning  armies.    From  shrapnel  we 

less.     A  cooperative  store,  where  goods  and  food  are  intend  to  transform  our  plant  output  into  automobiles 

bought  in  bulk  and  sold  practically  at  cost;  classes  in  and  agricultural  implements." 


[     20     ] 


Water-oupply  at  the  Front  in  France 

Engineering  Work  for  American  Forces  Centralized  in  Specialists — Horses  Important  Factor  in  Quantity 
Estimates — "Water  Points"  Must  Be  Provided — British  and  French  Water-Supply  Practice  Reviewed 

By  Robert  K,  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War    Correspondent    of    Engineering    News-Record 


French  Official  Photo 
A  WATER  PURIFICATION   "PLANT"   OPE3RATED   BY   THE   FRENCH   IN  THE   MARNE   SECTOR 


DURING  a  recent  interview  at  our  general  head- 
quarters in  France,  the  chief  engineer  of  the 
American  Expeditionary  Forces  in  telling  me  about 
the  activities  of  our  technical  troops,  made  this  re- 
mark: "In  addition  to  what  you  can  now  see  in  the 
field,  our  engineers  have  done  a  tremendous  amount 
of  work  the  results  of  which,  as  yet,  do  not  all  appear 
on  the  surface."  At  the  time  I  did  not  appreciate 
the  full  significance  of  this  statement.  A  little  later 
that  day,  however,  after  I  had  been  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  inquire  into  the  subject  of  water-supply  for 
American  forces  in  the  field,  its  real  meaning  became 
clear.  This  problem,  involving  two  great  subdivisions, 
water-supply  for  the  advance  areas  and  for  the  sec- 
tions of  the  rear,  is  one  of  countless  ramifications; 
one  that  has  demanded  a  prodigious  amount  of  de- 
tailed preliminary  investigation,  for  into  its  solution 
enter  not  only  most  of  the  factors  with  which  the 
water-supply  engineer  in  civil  life  has  to  deal,  but 
also  scores  of  others  arising  out  of  the  special  con- 
ditions of  modern  warfare. 

These  investigations  of  our  army  engineers  in 
France  have  led  along  some  strange  bypaths,  routes 
unexplored  in  the  course  of  Ordinary  municipal  water- 
supply  practice  at  home.  How  much  water  does  a 
horse  or  a  mule  drink  daily?  What  is  the  minimum 
requirement  per  capita  for  troops  during  an  advance? 
What  is  the  best  means  of  sterilizing  water  on  the 
field?  How  shall  pipe  lines,  pumping  stations  and 
tanks  be  protected  from  shell  fire?  Shall  each  army, 
corps   or  division  be  responsible  for  its   own   water- 

[ 


supply,  or  shall  this  matter  be  controlled  for  all  of 
our  forces  directly  from  headquarters?  To  what  ex- 
tent can  water  be  delivered  by  pipe  lines,  and  how 
much  pipe  can  be  procured  in  France?  Where  should 
pipe-line  delivery  stop  and  transport  by  motor  truck, 
light  railway  or  animals  begin?  How  much  water 
does  a  soldier  need  for  a  shower  bath,  and  how  often 
should  he  be  permitted  this  luxury?  These  are 
samples  of  the  questions  our  water-supply  engineers 
at  the  front  have  been  busy  answering.  And  from 
the  answers  it  has  been  possible  to  evolve  two  very 
important  things — a  policy  governing  the  supply  of 
water  to  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  and  an 
organization  to  direct  the  work  in  all  of  its  branches. 
In  the  development  of  this  organization  we  have 
been  fortunate,  for  we  have  been  able  to  profit  by 
the  experiences  of  the  British  and  French  armies, 
which  have  been  placed  so  freely  at  the  disposal 
of  our  engineers.  We  have  been  able,  for  instance, 
tc  avoid  the  mistake  of  making  mobile  units  directly 
responsible  for  their  own  water-supply.  We  have,  at 
the  very  beginning,  done  what  our  Allies  did  only 
after  paying  the  price  for  their  experience,  and  re- 
organizing their  systems  of  water-supply:  We  have 
organized  water-supply  on  a  geographical  rather  than 
upon  a  shifting  military  unit  basis.  By  this  I  mean 
that  the  service  of  water-supply  has  been  established 
as  an  organization  attached  to  headquarters,  and, 
through  the  chief  engineer,  A.  E.  F.,  exercises  central 
and  direct  control  over  all  field  operations  by  means 
of  districts.  The  geographical  constancy  of  the  men. 
21     ] 


French  Official  Photo 

VARIOUS  FORMS  OF  CARTS  ARE  USED  FOR  WATER  DELIVERY  IN  ADVANCE  AREAS 


engaged  in  water-supply  field  work,  therefore,  is  as- 
sured, irrespective  of  the  shifting  from  one  sector  to 
another  of  divisions  or  other  units.  The  big  advantage 
of  this  plan  is  that  the  water-supply  force  in  each  dis- 
trict remains  continually  in  charge  of  work  with  which 
it  is  familiar,  instead,  as  was  the  case  in  the  first  year 
of  the  war,  of  being  moved  from  one  locality  to  another, 
facing  *a  new  set  of  conditions,  with  regard  to  the 
supply  of  water,  at  each  shift.  The  accompanying  dia- 
gram of  organization  indicates  the  tentative  lines  along 
which  we  are  working,  and  is  of  course  subject  to 
modification  as  experience  shows  such  alteration  to  be 
desirable. 

The  principal  uses  of  water  in  the  forward  areas — 
and  it  is  with  the  forward-area  work  only  that  this 
article  will  deal — are  these:  Drinking  (men  and  ani- 
mals);  laundry;  culinary;  locomotives  and  steam 
boilers;  washing  wagons  and  harness;  shower  baths 
and  fire  protection.  Behind  a  rapid  advance  of  troops 
the  following  methods  of  supplying  water  are  em- 
ployed: (1)  Hand  portage  in  bottles  and  cans.  '(2) 
Horse-drawn  carts.  (3)  Tank  trains  and  cars.  (4) 
Construction  of  new  water  delivery  points.  (5)  Laying 
new  pipe  lines.  (6)  Equipment  of  advance  pumping 
stations.  Each  case  determines  the  method  or  com- 
bination of  methods  that  will  serve  best.  Past  exper- 
ience has  shown,  however,  that  most  advances  are  more 
or  less  intermittent,  with  lapses  of  time  between  move- 


ments, which  allow '  the  water-supply  forces  to  install 
first-aid  pumping  stations,  pipe  lines,  and  water  points 
for  the  use  of  large  numbers  of  horses,  hauling  artillery 
and  supplies.  This  work  must  be  done  under  shell  fire. 
Pipe  lines  are  broken  and  must  be  kept  in  repair. 
Mechanical  equipment  is  pretty  much  of  a  minus  quan- 
tity. Casualties  deplete  the  working  force.  But  come 
what  may,  the  water-supply  engineers  must  stick  to 
the  job  and  keep  the  delivery  of  water  close  up  behind 
the  troops  moving  ahead. 

Having  reached  the  decision  that  geographical  con- 
stancy should  be  the  basic  element  of  the  Army  water- 
supply  work,  the  chief  engineer,  A.  E.  F.,  authorized 
the  creation  of  a  new  department,  the  Service  of 
Water-supply  and  Sewerage,  and  placed  at  its  head  a 
colonel  of  engineers  who,  after  graduation  from  West 
Point  and  service  some  years  in  the  corps  of  engineers, 
became  associated  with  Allen  Hazen,  consulting  en- 
gineer. New  York,  for  whom  he  took  charge  of  many 
important  water-supply  projects,  among  them  being 
the  large  filtration  plant  at  Toronto.  The  chief  of  the 
water-supply  service,  A.  E.  F.,  is  responsible  for  all 
water-supply  and  sewerage  work  undertaken  by  the 
forces  in  France,  including  design,  construction,  supply 
of  materials,  laboratory  control  of  quality  of  water, 
and  investigation  of  water  resources.  Collaborating 
closely  with  him  in  this  work,  and  directly  in  charge  of 
the  office  which  handles  much  of  the  water-supply  work 


[     22     ] 


General  Staff 
Intelllftence  Section 
Engineer  Supply  Officer 
Engr.  Depots  &  Shops  in 
U.  S.  and  France 


Chief  Engineer  Officer 
A    E.   F 


Asst    to  Ch    Engr.  Off. 
A    E.    F 


Director  of  Water 
Laboratories 


Water    Supply    Officer 
Dist.  of  the  Roar 


Chief  of  Service 

of 
Water  Supply 
and  Sewerage 


i      I     l_^ 


French   Service  de«   Eaux 

British  Water  Supply 

Service  Medical  Dept., 

V   S.  A. 

0.     M.     Dept.,    V.    S.    A. 

(Water  tank  transport) 

Geological  branch,  Chf. 

Engr.,  A.  E.  F 


Water  Supply  Officer 
1st  Army 


Office  and  Field  Assistants 


Assistants,  office  &  field 
design ;  const. ;  materials ; 
quality  of  water; 


Electrical  &  .Mechanical 
Battalion 


5  Corps  Water  Supply 
Officers 


I  Well     Drilling    .Section] 


5    Water    Sup-    Cos-    one 

under    Ch.    Engr.    each 

Corps 


^_l___i 

I     Water  Supply  Officer     1 
I  (I  for  each  additional  army)  ■ 

I  Same  organization  j 
I  as  for   1st   army,  j 


TENTATIVE    ORGANIZATIOX    SCHEME    FOR   WATER- 
SUPPLY  OF  AMERICAN  FORCES    AT    THE   FRONT 

connected  with  American  interests  in  France  outside 
the  zone  of  the  armies,  is  another  engineer  officer  whose 
qualifications  result  from  long  experience  on  New  York's 
Catskill  Aqueduct  and  other  important  projects. 

The  field  work,  as  now  contemplated,  will  be  con- 
trolled by  districts,  each  district  including  the  area 
occupied  by  one  army.  The  district,  in  turn,  will  be 
subdivided  into  sections  for  each  army  corps.  There 
will  be,  therefore,  water-supply  officers  representing  the 
chief  water-supply  officer,  A.  E.  F,,  in  each  army,  and 
in  each  corps  area.  If  a  corps  should  move  to  a  new 
position  in  the  field,  and  another  corps  take  its  place, 
the  original  water-supply  officer  of  the  corps  would  re- 
main. For  every  army  there  will  be,  also,  an  electrical 
and  mechanical  battalion  and  a  well-drilling  section,  re- 
porting through  the  chief  engineer  of  the  army  to 
the  water-supply  engineer  of  the  army.  Through  each 
chief  engineer  of  a  corps  the  water-supply  officer  of 
the  corps  will  have  control  of  a  water-supply  comapny, 
made  up  of  picked  men.  Then,  too,  there  will  be  a 
director  of  laboratories,  with  a  staff  of  assistants  for 
office  and  field  work,  reporting  to  the  chief  water-supply 
officer.  A,  E,  F,  Through  the  chief  engineer,  A.  E,  F,, 
contact  will  be  had  with  the  British  Water-Supply  Serv- 
ice, the  French  Service  des  Eaux,  the  medical  and 
quartermaster  departments,  U.  S.  A.,  the  engineer 
supply  officer  and  the  various  engineer  depots  and  shops 


French  Official  Photo 
A  HASTILY  MADE  "WATER  POINT"' FOR  HORSES — TROUGH 
MERELY   A   WATERPROOF    CANVAS    SHEET    HUNG 
OVER  A  WOODEN   FRAME 


both  in  France  and  the  United  States.  There  is,  in  ad- 
dition tp  the  organization  outlined  above,  a  force  which 
is  in  charge  of  water-supply  in  the  district  of  the  rear. 
This  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  this  article. 
It  reports  through  the  water-supply  officer,  district  of 
the  rear,  to  the  chief  of  the  water  service,  American 
Expeditionary  Forces. 

In  organizing  our  water-supply  work  along  the  lines 
indicated  we  have  followed  in  a  general  way  the  scheme 
which  has  been  found  to  give  the  best  results  in  both 
the  French  and  the  British  armies.  In  the  early  days 
the  French  delegated  the  work  of  water-supply  to  each 
division,  to  be  performed  as  fatigue  duty  by  troops 
taken  at  random  from  tactical  units.  Generally  these 
troops  had  little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  work,  their 
technical  control  was  inadequate  and  a  general  state  of 
confusion  and  inefficiency  was  the  result.  In  1915,  with 
the  creation  of  the  Service  des  Eaux.  a  big  change  for 
the  better  was  wrought,  for  in  each  army  a  chief  of 
water  service  was  appointed  and  about  1000  engineer 


British  Official  I'hoio 

ELEVATED    TANK    (IN    BACKGROUND.    CENTER)     FOR 
SUPPLYING  WATER  TO  RAILWAY  LOCOMOTIVES 

troops  were  given  him  for  the  performance  of  water- 
supply  work.  A  similar  change  occurred  in  the  British 
armies,  where,  until  1915,  field  companies  were  as- 
signed to  water-supply.  The  creation  of  a  separate 
service,  composed  of  men  trained  in  this  branch  of  en- 
gineering, became  imperative  and  the  Service  of  Water- 
Supply  for  the  British  armies  was  the  outcome. 

The  chief  of  the  water-supply  service  for  the  Ameri- 
can forces  and  his  assistants  have  made  a  thorough 
study  of  methods  employed  behind  the  British  and 
French  fronts.  To  a  large  extent  water  for  our  allies 
is  obtained  from  wells.  The  British  territory  is  under- 
laid with  chalk,  and  it  is  necessary  to  sink  driven  wells 
from  150  to  250  ft,  to  reach  the  level  of  saturation. 
With  two  shifts  the  drilling  progress  on  a  6-in,  hole 
varies  from  20  to  60  ft.  a  day,  and  the  yield  per  well 
may  range  from  50  to  150  gal.  per  minute.  In  the 
Somme  valley,  British  troops  used  river  water,  which 
was  passed  through  purification  plants  mounted  on 
barges.  About  four-fifths  of  the  French  army  water- 
supply  in  the  region  of  Verdun  was  obtained  from  wells. 
Wells  dug  by  hand,  in  addition  to  drilled  wells,  are  also 
employed  to  some  extent — one  of  these  was  put  down  to 


[     23     ] 


a  depth  of  65  ft.  If  time  permits,  these  dug  wells  are 
lined  for  the  upper  10  or  12  ft.,  and  a  curb  2  ft.  high 
is  built  around  the  top  to  prevent  debris  or  waste  water 
falling  back  into  the  well.  For  dug  wells  a  round  sec- 
tion about  4  ft.  in  diameter  is  common. 

The  engineer  in  civil  life  who  is  accustomed  to  design 
n  water-supply  system  on  the  basis  of  a  consumption 
of  150  to  200  gal.  per  capita  per  day  must  reconstruct 
his  ideas  when  he  reaches  the  front  and  compares 
these  figures  with  military  allowances  for  advance 
areas.  For  an  advancing  army  the  consumption  often- 
times must  be  as  low  as  h  gal.  per  soldier  daily. 
Three  days  after  the  beginning  of  a  movement,  during 
which  time  the  water-supply  forces  have  been  able  to 
extend  their  lines  forward,  the  allowance  per  man  daily 
is  increased  to  1  gal.  For  the  guidance  of  engineers 
of  our  army  water-supply  forces,  the  following  table 
of  allowances  and  rationing,  based  on  the  experience 
of  the  British  and  French,  has  been  prepared: 

WATER-SUPPLY  ALLOWANCE  AT  THE  FRONT 

Gallons  per  Man 
Kind  of  Service  or  Animal  per  Day 

Advancing  army  (men)   0.5 

Animals  (drinking) 7.5 

Army  after  3  days  (men)   1 .0 

Field   hospital 5.5 

Rear  rt  gions 10.0 

Base  hospitals 25.0 

General  use  at  stables 10.0 

As  to  allowance  of  1  gal.  per  man  daily,  British 
records  show  that  a  6000-gal.  overhead  canvas  tank. 


filled  once  a  day,  supplied  an  army  camp  of  6000  men 
without  serious  complaint.  Of  course,  in  this  case,  as 
in  all  others  where  water  is  at  a  premium,  a  very 
strict  surveillance  is  kept  over  consumption,  and  polic- 
ing at  water  points  prevents  waste.  In  the  instance 
cited  no  cart  was  allowed  to  fill  from  the  overhead  tank 
without  a  ticket  of  permission  from  the  area  com- 
mandant. 

For  advance  areas  the  present  war  has  developed 
the  "water-point,"  which  assumes  various  forms.  It 
may  be  a  well,  the  end  of  a  pipe  line,  a  trough,  an 
elevated  tank  of  metal  or  wood,  or  merely  a  reservoir 
of  canvas.  It  establishes,  however,  a  line  of  demarka- 
tion  between  the  work  of  the  special  water-supply  forces 
and  the  troops  in  the  field — between  producer  and  con- 
sumer. The  water-supply  service  establishes  these  water 
points  at  frequent  intervals,  and  divisional  or  other 
units  must  assume  responsibility  for  getting  the  water 
from  them  to  their  men  and  animals  by  light  railway, 
wagon  transport,  motor  truck,  hand  carrying,  or  such 
other  means  as  the  local  situation  may  demand. 

During  an  advance  the  sequence  of  operations  relat- 
ing to  water-supply  begins  with  horse-drawn  transport 
by  individual  military  units  from  existing  water-de- 
livery points.  Then,  as  the  distance  from  these  water 
bases  to  the  new  front  increases,  water-tank  trains 
operate  up  to  a  point  where  pack-mule  or  other  service 
begins.     These  water-tank  trains  are  operated  by  the 


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French  OffCciat.Photo 

A  FEW  OF  THE  PLACES  ALONG  THB  FRENCH  FRONT  VmERE  POILUS  MAY  QUENCH  THEIR  THIRST 

[    24     ] 


quartermaster  department,  and  tide  over  the 
period  during  which  engineers  of  the  water- 
supply  service  are  establishing  new  water 
points  in  advance  of  the  old  ones.  It  is  abso- 
lutely essential  for  the  success  of  the  move- 
ment of  troops  forward  that  the  distance  be- 
tween water  points  and  the  rear  of  advancing 
units  shall  not  be  so  great  as  to  make  trans- 
port of  water  difficult.  As  a  general  rule,  I 
am  told,  this  distance  should  not  exceed  four 
or  five  miles.  The  extreme  range  of  water- 
tank  transportation  is  set  at  10  miles,  to  which 
not  more  than  three  miles  should  be  added  for 
delivery  by  small  carts  or  pack  mules.  Obvi- 
ously, any  such  distance  as  13  miles  between  a 
water-delivery  point  and  the  point  of  actual 
consumption  can  be  maintained  only  for  a 
very  short  time.  If  the  roads  are  congested 
this  distance  must  be  halved  to  insure  service 
that  is  all  effective. 

During  forward  movements  frequent  use  is 
made  of  "first  aid"  tanks.     These  are  estab- 
lished as  far  forward  as  possible,  and  offer  a 
means    of    supply    until    a    moie    permanent 
water  point  can  be  established.     These  "first 
aid"  tanks  are  nothing  more  than  large  pieces  of  sail- 
cloth, waterproofed  with  tar  and  pitch,  or  linseed  oil 
and  pine  resin,  laid  directly  on  the  ground  and  banked 
up  around  the  sides  with  sand  bags.     It  is  desirable 
to  cover  them  with  some  form  of  camouflage  screen 
as  the  reflection  of  the  water  in  the  sunlight  discloses 
their   nosition  to   aviators. 


French  Official  Photo 


WATER    IN    BARREL,   AT    LEFT    IS    BEING    STERILIZED 
(PROBABLY    BY   HYPOCHLORITE    OF    LIME) 

Traveling  along  the  roads  back  of  the  front  one 
sees  numbers  of  these  water  points.  A  typical  one 
(British)  consists  of  one  9000-gal.  canvas  tank;  one 
2300-gal.  canvas  tank;  one  200-gal.  galvanized-iron 
tank;  six  600-gal.  canvas  horse-troughs;  one  water- 
bottle  filler. 

Here  are  a  few  other  types:  (A)  Air-lift  pumping 
station;  2800-gal.  tank  reservoirs;  main  pipe  line; 
elevated  storage  tank,  feeding  (1)  elevated  trough  for 
filling  carts,  trucks  and  flat  cars  (2)  tank  for  filling 
canteens  (3)  watering  trough  for  animals,  with  cordu- 

[     25 


French  Official  Photo 

SOLDIERS    IN    THE    TRENCHES    MUST    HAVE    MEANS 
OF  FILLING  THEIR  WATER  BOTTLES 

roy  "standing"  and  heavy  guard  rails  around  it  (B) 
Pumping  station  delivering  water  from  stream;  ele- 
vated storage  tank;  pipe  line  to  distribution  troughs 
and  elevated  tanks  for  filling  trucks  (C)  Well-pump 
in  tent  delivering  direct  to  trough  (this  layout  included 
a  fire-hose  under  a  culvert  crossing  as  part  of  the 
main  pipe  line  (D)  Depressed  concrete  reservoir  filled 
with  water  delivered  by  means  of  light  railway  tank 
cars;  pipe  line  to  elevated  troughs  for  filling  water 
carts;  also  concrete  troughs  for  animals. 

Water  points  should  be  located  near  highways,  but 
not  directly  alongside  main  routes,  as  they  would  tie  up 
traffic.  Where  horses  must  be  watered  it  is  very  im- 
portant to  build  "standing"  around  the  troughs — this 
may  be  plank  or  any  other  paving  material  which  offers 
solid  support.  Without  "standing"  the  horses'  hoofs 
cut  up  the  ground  until  it  develops  into  a  veritable 
bog.  Among  the  consideration  which  must  enter  into 
the  location  of  a  water  point  are  ease  of  access;  per- 
manency; demands  upon  the  supply;  liability  to  con- 
gestion ;  safety  from  shell  fire ;  concealment  from  enemy 
observation,  and  drainage. 

The  last  consideration,  drainage,  is  of  great  im- 
portance, and  where  possible  a  water  point  should  be 
located  on  a  side-hill.  In  this  case  water  slopping  over 
during  the  filling  of  tank  wagons  or  spilled  along  horse 
troughs  is  quickly  carried  off,  preventing  the  formation 
of  mud.  It  is  difficult  to  have  a  true  appreciation  of 
the  mud  over  here  unless  one  has  actually  tried  to  navi- 
gate through  it.  Officers  of  our  water-supply  service 
have  told  me  that  several  of  the  large  water  points  es- 
tablished by  our  allies  had  to  be  abandoned  because  of 
poor  drainage  faciUties.  The  stamping  of  thousands  of 
hoofs  daily  around  a  water  point  puts  the  ground  to 
a  severe  test,  and  it  must  be  well  drained  and  paved 
if  it  is  to  be  of  any  use. 

In  the  design  of  water  delivery  points  at  the  front, 
engineers  must  give  a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the 
horse  and  mule.     This  applies  not  only  to  the  actual 

]. 


design  of  troughs,  etc.,  but  also  to  computations  and 
estimates  of  the  quantity  of  water  it  is  necessary  to 
provide.  A  few  references  to  conditions  earlier  in  the 
war  will  serve  as  illustrations.  Back  of  Verdun  in  1915 
the  French  had  a  concentration  of  175,000  horses.  For 
100,000  animals  in  the  second  army  (French)  alone  it 
was  necessary  to  supply  daily  2,800,000  liters  of  water, 
equivalent  to  about  7i  gal.  a  head.  Another  census  at 
a  French  veterinary  hospital,  with  1200  horses,  showed 
a  per  capita  consumption  of  8i  gal.  daily,  this  figure 
including  water  used  by  attendants,  waste,  washing 
horses  and  cleaning  troughs.  In  the  valley  of  the 
Somme  the  British,  during  one  week,  supplied  50,000 
horses  with  an  amount  of  water  equivalent  to  5i  gal. 
per  head  per  day.  Ordinary  British  practice,  however, 
has  adopted  a  daily  supply  of  8  gal,  per  horse  daily. 

So  important  is  the  matter  of  horse  watering  in 
modern  warfare  that  it  is  one  of  the  controlling  factors 
in  water-supply  estimates.  In  a  recent  report  the 
water-supply  officer  of  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces  devoted  many  pages  to  this  subject — and  the 
report,  let  it  be  said,  was  on  the  general  work  of  ad- 
vance-area water-supply,  not  specifically  on  water-supply 
for  animals.  The  tables  of  organization  for  the  United 
States  Army  show,  approximately,  about  1  horse  per 
5  men,  but  in  an  advance  the  animals  will  be  concen- 
trated at  the  front  so  that  the  ratio  may  change  to  1 
horse  per  3  men,  as  is  said  to  have  been  the  case  in  the 
French  forces  back  of  Verdun.  Thus,  recalling  the  fact 
that  an  animal  needs  from  7  to  10  times  as  much  water 
as  a  man,  it  is  clear  that  the  water-supply  engineer  must 
often  provide  more  water  for  animals  than  for  the  men 
actually  engaged  in  fighting. 

The  watering  troughs  are  simple  affairs,  consisting 
generally  of  wooden  frames  supporting  canvas  con- 
tainers. They  extend  often  to  great  lengths,  however. 
The  British  have  one  run  of  trough  720  ft.  long,  com- 
posed of  eight  90-ft.  sections,  fed  from  three  1500-gaI. 
canvas  tanks  elevated  15  ft.  above  ground.  Separate 
lines  of  4-in.  pipe  deliver  water  to  groups  of  four  trough 
sections.  At  this  point  a  city  fire  engine  pumped  10,- 
000  gal.  of  water  an  hour  into  the  tanks,  which,  however, 
were  bypassed,  and  delivery  was  made  directly  into  the 
troughs  when  horses  arrived  in  large  numbers.  The 
chief  of  our  water-supply  service,  during  his  investi- 
gations among  the  British  and  French  armies,  found 
that  a  trough  gives  from  100  to  150  waterings  per  yard 
of  trough  daily,  but  that  with  good  service  and  constant 
watering  throughout  the  day  this  number  can  be 
doubled.  The  French  have  found  that  when  horses  suc- 
ceed, one  another  without  interruption  along  a  20-m. 
trough,  at  least  8  cu.  m,  of  water  per  hour  must  be  sup- 
plied. About  6000  waterings  a  day  is  an  ordinary  per- 
formance for  a  20-m.  trough.  As  a  rough  guide,  the 
British  estimate  200  horses  per  hour  at  a  30-ft.  trough. 
A  90-ft.  trough,  it  has  been  found,  can  accommodate  40 
horses  on  each  side  at  one  time  without  undue  crowd- 
ing.* 

In  addition  to  the  figures  covering  the  drinking  water 
allowances  for  men,  previously  given,  the  following  on 
ihower  bath  requirements  are  worn  noting:  A  6-in. 
shower  head  must  be  fed  with  at  least  3  gal.  per  minute 
(the  pressure  of  course  being  very  low).  Four  such 
shower  heads,  supplied  with  from  800  to  1000  gal.  per 

[     26     ] 


hour,  are  estimated  to  be  sufficient  for  baths  for  2000 
men  in  24  hours. 

The  experience  of  the  British  and  French  has  indi- 
cated the  desirability  of  having  as  few  different  sizes 
of  pipe  as  possible.  Wrought-iron  pipe,  18-ft.  lengths 
with  screw  couplings,  in  three  sizes,  1,  2  and  4  in,  in 
diameter,  is  much  used  and  has  demonstrated  its  use- 
fulness. During  a  hurried  advance  pipe  must  be  laid 
on  the  ground  surface,  but  in  this  position,  of  course, 
it  is  exposed  to  rupture  by  shell  fire,  and  should  be 
covered  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  Pipe  should  never 
be  laid  on  the  surface  of  continuous  straight  lines,  as 
expansion  due  to  the  sun's  heat  is  apt  to  cause  breaks. 
Wavy  lines  are  always  recommended. 

The  British  practice  is  to  have  an  advance  pipe-laying 
gang  proceed  with  all  rapidity,  leaving  gaps  in  the  line 
for  sharp  bends,  specials,  or  where  extra  work  would 
consume  valuable  time.  This  first  gang  is  followed 
by  a  "make-good"  party,  whose  job  is  to  connect  up 
sections  of  the  line  left  unfinished  by  the  forward 
gang — for  example,  at  highway  or  railroad  crossings. 
Behind  the  "make-good"  party  comes  a  third  gang 
which  tests  the  line  and  places  the  back  fill.  Screw-- 
joint  pipe  laid  on  the  ground  surface  has  been  pulled 
over  into  trenches  without  much  damage — but  it  is 
better  to  lay  the  pipe  originally  in  the  trench  if  con- 


French  Official  Photo 
ELEVATED  WATER  TANK  SUPPLIED  BY  NEARBY  SPRING, 
ALONG   ROADSIDE   IN   THE   SOMME   VALLEY 

ditions  permit  of  the  digging  of  the  trench  first.  Pipe- 
line trenches  are  about  2  ft.  -wide  and  2i  ft.  deep,  as 
a  rule.  While  it  is  possible  with  straight  wrought-iron 
pipe  to  make  bends,  cold,  in  the  field,  the  better  prac- 
tice is  to  provide  lengths  of  bends  in  advance. 

According  to  the  recommendations  of  one  of  our  army 
water-supply  oflScers,  a  pipe-laying  gang  should  include 
one  noncommissioned  officer  and  six  men — four  to  handle 
the  material  and  pipe  tongs  and  two  to  fit  and  grease 
or  lead  the  joints.  In  good  weather  it  is  possible  for 
one  of  these  gangs  to  lay  40  lengths  of  18-ft.  pipe 
(4  in.  in  diameter)  in  eight  hours.  These  figures  are  for 
laying  on  the  ground  surface  or  in  prepared  trenches 
under  favorable  circumstances.  Cases  arise  which  re- 
quire this  progress  to  be  liberally  discounted. 

To  prevent  breakage  by  shell  fire,  a  2-ft,  earth  cover 
over  a  pipe  line  is  regarded  as  sufficient,  except  in 
case  of  a  direct  hit.    In  the  case  of  an  uncovered  pipe 


line  a  high-explosive  shell  bursting  on  hard  ground  30 
ft.  away  will  rupture  the  joints.  Pending  the  digging 
of  a  trench,  however,  pipe  on  the  surface^  can  be  pro- 
tected in  a  measure  by  laying  sand  bags  over  exposed 
joints.  When  shrapnel  bullets  puncture  a  line  repairs 
can  often  be  made,  where  the  pressure  is  low,  with 
plumber's  tape.  For  large  holes  split  sleeves  are  use- 
ful. When  whole  pipe  lengths  are  sprayed  with  shrap- 
nel the  section  must  be  taken  out  and  replaced.  On 
the  repair  work  it  has  been  found  advantageous  to  have 
a  fairly  plentiful  supply  of  one-half  and  one-quarter 
lengths  of  pipe  with  long  screw  threads  and  sockets. 

The  work  of  the  water-supply  service  of  the  American 
Expeditionary  Forces  indicates  also  supervision  over  the 


quality  of  the  water  furnished  to  our  troops.  The 
British  and  French  have  used  hypochlorite  of  line  for 
this  purpose,  but  our  engineers  have  developed  plans 
for  the  extensive  use  of  liquid  chlorine  apparatus  of 
the  Wallace  &  Tierman  type.  Some  of  these  outfits, 
I  am  informed,  will  be  mounted  on  motor  trucks. 

What  has  been  said  in  the  foregoing  notes  refers 
exclusively  to  advance  area  water-supply.  This  is  only 
part  of  the  story.  Back  of  the  front  at  our  supply 
bases  and  along  our  lines  of  communication  many  water- 
supply  projects,  some  of  them  involving  filtration  plants, 
are  included  in  the  program  of  work  for  our  Army 
Vv'ater-supply  service.  In  a  later  article  I  hope  to  give 
an  outline  of  water-supply  in  the  district  of  the  rear. 


[     27     ] 


Road  Builders  at  Work  Close  to  Front  of 
American  Sector  in  France 

Maintenance,  Reconstruction  and  Quarrying  Proceed  Despite  Interruptions  by  German  Shelling — ^Our 

Engineers  Have  Installed  a  Mechanically  Operated  Quarry,  First  of  Its 

Kind  on  Any  Front  in  France 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

"War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 

at  work  on  military  highways  and  in  quarries  within 


XN  TWO  previous  articles  dealing  with  the  work  of  the 
road  service  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces 
here  in  France  my  reports  of  progress  were  necessarily 
confined  to  matters  of  organization,  inspection  and  plan- 
ning. These  were  the  early  days  back  in  January,  when 
the  principal  activities  of  the  chief  of  the  road  service 
and  his  department  heads  took  the  form  of  investiga- 
tion and  report.  The  results  of  our  efforts  were  then 
on  paper,  not  on  the  ground,  for  the  rank  and  file  of 
our  special  road-building  and  quarry  regiments  were 
still  at  Camp  Meade  in  Maryland,  and  practically  no 
construction  plant  or  tools  had  been  received.  Since 
those  days  a  big  change  has  been  wrought.  The  van- 
guard of  our  special  road  construction  and  quarry 
forces  landed  in  France  some  time  ago.  Road  service 
headquarters  was  immediately  shifted  from  Paris  to  a 
point  nearer  the  front.  A  limited  amount  of  equipment 
was  received,  some  of  it  from  the  states,  some  from 
local  sources:  Men  who  had  been  chafing  at  desk  jobs 
were  transferred  to  open  country.  District  offices  wore 
established :  construction  gangs  were  detailed  to  selected 
areas;  and  the  real  work  of  road  reconstruction  and 
maintenance  in  the  zone  of  American  operations  in 
France  began. 

The  machinery  of  the  organization  up  to  this  time 
had  been  in  the  assembly  stage.  Now,  however,  the 
throttle  has  been  opened  and  the  wheels  are  turning. 
We  are  not  yet  going  at  full  speed,  but  we  are  moving 
along  nicely,  and  each  week  sees  the  lever  jacked  for- 
ward a  notch  or  two.    American  road  builders  are  now 


HAND  QUARRYING  PENDING  ARRIVAL  OF  CRUSHER 

[ 


the  range  of  German  artillery  fire  as  well  as  in  other 
areas  between  the  front  and  our  seaport  bases. 

I  have  just  come  back  from  the  advance  section  of  our 
road  service,  where  work,  subject  to  interruption  at 
any  time  by  high  explosive  shelling  or  drenching  by 
mustard  gas,  is  being  carried  on  under  the  direction 
(;f  a  captain  of  engineers  who  was  formerly  a  division 
engineer  in  the  New  York  State  Highway  Department. 
Upon  his  shoulders  has  fallen  the  responsibility  of  get- 
ting the  job  in  the  forward  area  started.  His  status, 
like  that  of  several  other  engineer  oflflcers  assigned  to 
different  areas  of  France,  is  that  of  a  division  highway 
engineer  reporting  directly  to  the  chief  of  the  road 
service,  who  is  located  at  present  at  the  general  head- 
quarters of  the  American  Expeditionary  Force. 

Just  a  little  more  than  a  month  ago — on  Feb.  15,  to 
be  exact — road  work  up  near  the  front  was  begun  by 
American  forces.  Since  then  things  have  moved  swiftly. 
About  1500  men  are  now  engaged  in  road  reconstruc- 
tion, maintenance,  and  quarrying  in  this  advance  zone. 
They  are  operating  in  seven  groups,  each  group  being 
assigned  to  a  territory  with  definite  limits.  Five 
quarries  are  being  worked  by  our  men.  Mechanic?! 
equipment  has  begun  to  arrive.  Several  crusher  instal- 
lations have  been  set  up,  among  them  one  with  over- 
head bins  and  mechanical  elevating  equipment,  said 
to  be  the  first  of  its  kind  to  be  erected  behind  any 
front  in  France  since  the  war  started,  almost  four  years 
ago.  Four  days  after  the  machinery  and  wood  for  the 
bins  arrived  at  the  quarry  site  our  men  had  this  outfit 
producing  crushed  rock.  Nor  have  we  stopped  at  the 
innovation  of  the  portable  crusher  plant  with  its  ele- 
vating conveyors  and  storage  bins.  We  are  causing  a 
good  deal  of  comment  among  French  engineers,  I  am 
told,  by  the  use  of  bottom-dump  wagons  and  elevating 
end-dump  motor  trucks.  Such  equipment  as  we  are 
using  for  quarrying  and  transportating  rock  is  a  de- 
cided novelty  over  here,  where  the  practice  of  depending 
on  hand  labor  rather  than  mechanical  plant  is  far  more 
general  than  is  the  case  in  the  United  States. 

As  I  stated  in  a  former  report,  our  road  builders  do 
not  have  to  concern  themselves  to  any  great  extent  with 
the  construction  of  new  roads.  There  are  already 
plenty  of  highways  leading  to  the  front,  and  our  job 
now  is  maintenance,  reconstruction  and  widening  of 
existing  waterbound  macadam  roads.  Where  our  road 
and  quarry  regiments  are  operating  near  the  front  the 
amount  of  work  to  attend  to  is  about  one  mile  of  road 
per  square  mile  of  land.  Certain  "national"  highways 
leading  toward  our  battery  positions  and  trenches  are 
already  of  ample  width  and  possess  good  foundations 
and  drainage.  Ordinary  maintenance  work  is  all  they 
28     ] 


require.  Some  of  the  offshoot  roads,  however,  are  only 
from  9  to  12  ft.  wide  and  these  must  be  increased  to 
from  18  to  25  ft.  in  order  to  carry  artillery  and  motor 
truck  traffic.  These  offshoot  roads  are  in  most  cases 
too  thin  to  stand  the  heavy  traffic  of  war  and  our  men 
are  reconsti'ucting  them,  as  shown  in  the  sketch. 

The  reconstruction  work  involves  the  preparation  of 
a  subgrade,  which  is  not  rolled,  and  the  laying  of  a 
foundation  course  of  large  stone  or  "blockage"  to  a 
thickness  of  20  cm.  This  blockage  is  set  by  hand  and 
chinked  in  with  smaller  stones.  Then  on  top  of  it  is 
spread  a  10  cm.  layer  of  crushed  stone  1  to  4  in.  in  size, 


.SURFA  CING 


Roac(  reconstructed 
and   widened. 


AMERICANS  USE  OLD  ROAD  AS  HALF  BASE  FOR  NEW 

this  layer  being  extended  across  the  surface  of  the 
existing  road,  which  serves  as  a  base  for  about  half  of 
the  widened  route.  When  a  roller  is  available  the  top 
course  is  rolled  down;  otherwise  the  compacting  must 
be  done  by  the  traffic  itself 

There  is  nothing  very  elaborate  about  the  work.  It 
is  macadam  road  reconstruction  reduced  to  its  simplest 
form,  for  under  the  conditions  that  obtain  in  the  ad- 
vance section  our  engineers  have  found  that  this  is 
the  only  type  of  road  it  is  practicable  to  build  and  m.ain- 
tain.  The  captain  of  engineers  in  charge  of  our  advance 
section  work  states  the  case  thus:  "The  war-time  type 
of  road  for  France  is  the  waterbound  macadam  road. 
It  is  the  road  for  which  local  material  is  available  and 
for  which  the  methods  of  maintenance  and  reconstruc- 
tion are  simple.      The  fact  that  the  local  stone  has 


AMERICAN    ENGINEERS    HAD    THIS    QUARRY    IN 

OPERATION   FOUR  DAYS  AFTER 

EQUIPMENT   ARRIVED 


a  high  cementing  value  is  another  argument  in  its 
favor."  The  stone  referred  to  is  a  soft  limestone,  almost 
white. 

Our  policy  in  road  building  is  to  use  local  material 
as  far  as  possible,  thus  cutting  down  on  the  length  of 
haul  for  crushed  stone.  This  is  very  important,  for 
with  quarries  located  far  from  the  job  the  motor  trucks 
hauling  crushed  rock  for  maintenance  and  reconstruc- 
tion destroy  the  very  roads  for  which  they  are  bringing 
up  repair  materials.  Then,  too,  it  is  now,  in  the  early 
spring,  that  the  roads  are  subjected  to  their  severest 
test,  for  at  this  time  military  activity  generally  in- 
creases after  the  winter's  lull  and  the  roads  must  be 
cleared,  so  far  as  possible,  of  all  traffic  which  does  not 
carry  ammunition,  supplies  and  the  other  essentials  of 
combat  and  sustenance.  Giving  weight  to  all  of  these 
factors,  our  road  service  is  opening  up,  or  taking  over 
from  the  French,  many  quarries,  on  the  theory  that 
many  quarries  mean  short  hauls  for  crushed  rock,  and 
consequently  fewer  trucks  operating  on  the  highways. 

Up  to  within  a  short  time  ago  most  of  our  quarrying 
was  a  hand-labor  job.  Some  of  it  still  is,  but  our  aim 
is  to  install  mechanical  equipment  at  all  quarry  sites 
just  as  soon  as  such  equipment  is  to  be  had.  The  accom- 
panying photograph  shows  the  first  mechanically 
equipped  quarry  which  American  engineers  have  in- 
stalled near  the  front.  It  is  of  the  semiportable  type, 
with  jaw  crusher,  overhead  bins  and  elevating  con- 
veyors. This  is  the  plant  which  was  set  up  in  four 
days.  As  previously  noted,  this  layout  is  a  decided 
departure  from  previous  practice  of  the  allied  armies 
behind  the  front.  The  rock  here  is  the  prevailing  soft 
limestone  which,  after  being  blasted — generally  at  night 
— is  loaded  into  wheelbarrows  and  delivered  by  inclined 
runways  to  the  jaw  crushers. 

The  elevated  bins,  it  will  be  noted,  have  two  openings 
below.  The  larger  of  these  is  for  motor  trucks,  while 
the  other  is  for  light  railway  (60  cm.  gage)  cars. 
American  quarry  practice  over  here  is  making  a  marked 
cut  in  the  man-power  required  for  operation  by  the 
provision  of  gravity  loading  of  crushed  rock  into  motor 
trucks,  light  railway  cars  and  bottom-dump  wagons. 

Another  of  the  views  shows  a  gyratory  crusher  which 
had  been  set  up  only  a  couple  of  days  before  I  took  this 
picture.  At  the  time  overhead  storage  bins  had  not 
been  erected  at  this  site,  which  had  previously  been 
worked  by  the  French. 

In  another  photograph  a  detachment  of  our  quarry 
regiment  is  shown  breaking  rock  by  hand,  pending  the 
arrival  of  a  crusher.  The  captain  in  charge  of  this 
work  had  established  his  camp  only  a  few  days  before 
my  visit  to  this  quarry,  and,  eager  to  increase  his  out- 
put of  crushed  stone,  he  was  preparing  to  build  a 
crusher  of  his  own  from  odds  and  ends  of  metal  which 
he  had  ferreted  out  in  a  junk  shop  in  a  near-by  town. 
"As  soon  as  I  can  get  the  authorization  to  spend  a  few 
hundred  dollars  for  this  stuff,"  he  said,  "I  will  have  a 
crusher  set  up  and  running  in  a  few  days."  This  spirit 
is  typical.  Our  men  have  had  to  proceed  with  their 
work  in  the  face  of  difficulties  of  all  sorts,  shortage  of 
men,  shortage  of  plant,  delays  in  railroad  shipments, 
etc.  Yet  they  are  not  sitting  down  and  waiting  for 
something  to  turn  up.  When  mechanical  plant  does 
arrive  it  is  set  up  in  a  jiffy;  if  it  is  delayed,  some  sort 
29     ] 


THIS  QUARRY,  TAKEN  OVER  PROM  FRENCH,  IS  SHOWN  PARTLY,  EQUIPPED  WITH  GYRATORY  CRUSHER.  THE 

OVERHEAD   STORAGE   BINS   NOT   HAVING   BEEN    BEGUN 


of  makeshift  is  resorted  to,  or  else  the  rock  is  barred 
out  and  broken  by  hand.  From  four  of  our  quarries 
where  mechanical  plant  of  some  type  is  in  service  we 
are  turning  out  about  500  cu.m.  of  rock  daily,  and  the 
work  is  as  yet  hardly  organized. 

Most  of  the  transportation  of  crushed  rock  from 
quarry  to  road  is  done,  at  this  writing,  by  motor  truck 
or  horse-drawn  dump  wagon.  A  number  of  Mack  motor 
trucks  are  in  service  for  the  longer  hauls  and  Watson 
bottom-dump  wagons  for  lesser  distances.  "  Both 
schemes  of  dumping — the  automatic  elevating  body  in 
the  case  of  the  motor  truck,  and  the  bottom  opening 
leaves  in  the  case  of  the  wagon — are  decided  novelties 
among  French  road  builders  and  their  first  perform- 
ances were  in  the  nature  of  spectacles  watched  with  the 
keenest  interest.  Much  of  the  road  stone  is  delivered 
by  the  French  in  small,  two-wheel  carts  hauled  by  a 
pair  of  horses  in  tandem.     ^ 

The  men  of  our  road-building  and  quarry  regiments 
have  been  divided  into  gangs  and  are  quartered  close 
to  the  particular  jobs  to  which  they  have  been  assigned. 

[ 


At  some  places  camps  have  been  established  and  the 
men  live  in  wooden  barracks.  Others,  newly  arrived, 
are  occupying  canvas  tents  for  the  present.  Still  others 
are  billeted  in  French  towns.  The  road  service  is  pro- 
viding everything  possible  in  the  way  of  good  food  and 
clothing  to  make  life  comfortable  for  the  men.  Many 
of  the  rank  and  file  are  experienced  construction  men, 
road  builders  or  engineers  with  degrees  from  our  lead- 
ing technical  schools,  who  expected  to  be  assigned, 
on  their  arrival  in  France,  to  jobs  of  a  supervisory 
capacity ;  for  example,  as  bosses  of  gangs  on  road  recon- 
struction or  maintenance.  Up  to  the  present  time  it 
has  not  been  possible  for  all  of  these  expectations  to 
be  realized  and  men  with  qualifications  which  would 
ordinarily  place  them  in  positions  carrying  varying  de- 
grees of  authority  are  at  present  swinging  pick  and 
shovel  or  breaking  rock.  When  we  have  at  our  dis- 
posal a  larger  supply  of  labor  battalions  and  have  cap- 
tured more  prisoners  it  is  probable  that  there  will  be 
a  change  in  the  status  of  many  of  our  road  builders 
who  are  now  doing  ordinary  day-labor  jobs.  Neverthe- 
30     ] 


less,  the  men  are  buckling  down  to  their  tasks  and  show- 
ing an  excellent  spirit. 

Judging  by  what  I  had  to  eat  at  one  of  the  quarry- 
camps  there  is  nothing  to  complain  of  on  the  score  of 
"grub."  To  some  of  us  here  in  France  who  have  either 
to  pass  up  coffee  or  sweeten  it  with  saccharine,  eat 
brown  war  bread  without  butter  and  smoke  French 
cigarettes,  the  lot  of  the  military  road  builder,  even  if 
his  job  is  for  the  time  being  of  the  routine,  manual 
labor  sort,  seems  to  have  its  compensations,  for  he 
gets  white  bread  to  eat,  real  sugar  in  his  coffee  and 
American  "smokes,"  which,  in  themselves,  should  dis- 
count many  of  the  things-  which  may  be  not  quite  to 
the  liking  of  the  man  who  is  spreading  crushed  stone 
instead  of  super\dsing  the  work  of  German  prisoners. 

It  is  still  a  little  early  to  attempt  to  tell  the  real 
Btory  of  our  road-building  work.  That  will  come  later. 


when  all  of  our  quarries  are  locaLtd,  equipped  and  run- 
ning full  blast,  and  when  our  work  of  reconstruction 
and  maintenance  has  been  extended  and  put  to  the  test 
of  carrying  the  traffic  of  war  for  a  longer  time  than  it 
has  done  up  to  the  present.  Yet  I  am  able  to  report 
real  progress  in  the  advance  section  of  our  road  serv- 
ice, and  I  cannot  do  it  better  than  by  quoting  from  a 
note  written  to  the  commanding  officer,  lines  of  com- 
munication, advance  section,  by  the  general  command- 
ing the  first  division  of  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces,  behind  which  our  road  builders  have  been  at 
work.    Here  is  what  the  note  says : 

"I  was  very  hard  pressed  in  the  sector  on  account  of 
terrible  roads,  daily  growing  worse  under  hard  usage. 
It  was  necessary  to  act  quickiy  and  directly  with  G.H.Q. 
Your  men  are  doing  good  work-  They  are  really  saving 
the  '.situation." 


Army  Topographical  Division  Co-ordinates  Work  of  Map 

Makers  in  Air  and  on  Ground 

Existing  French  Maps  Used  as  Basis  for  New  Work — Aerial  Photographs,  Taken  by  Our  Own  Machines,  Bring 
Valuable  Data  from  Enemy  Territory — Relief  Maps  a  Specialized  Work  in  Which  U.  S.  Details  Are  Trained 

'  By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War    Correspondent    of    Engineering    News-Record 


USING  French  army  maps  and  civil  records  from 
various  local  sources  as  a  basis,  the  topographical 
division  of  the  intelligence  section,  American  Expedi- 
tionary Forces,  which  has  been  passing  throuQ:h  the 
organization  and  training  stages  for  some  months  past, 
has  been  developed  to  a  point  where  it  is  now  furnish- 
ing to  our  staff  and  field  officers  in  France  maps  on 
f/hich  the  more  recent  information  represents  the  work 


engineer  organization  and  training  them  in  the  various 
details  of  the  sei-vice,  that  has  occupied  much  of  the 
tim.e  of  the  topographical  division.  But  now  the  results 
of  this  preliminary  work  have  begun  to  bear  fruit,  and 
week  by  week  the  scope  of  operations  is  being  extended. 
Where  formerly  we  were  entirely  dependent  on  the 
French  Armies  for  maps  of  both  sides  of  No  Man's 
Land,  we  are,  at  this  writing,  drawing  more  and  more 


WHEN    THE    LENS    IS    NOT    HORIZONTAL,    CURIOUS    EFFECTS    FROM    DISTORTION    APPEAR 
Height,    1700    meters — The   river   is   the    Moselle 


of  American  engineers;  cooperating  with  them  is  our 
air  service,  which  is  responsible  for  the  taking  of  all 
aerial  photographs  for  map-making  purposes.  This 
statement  I  am  in  a  position  to  make  as  the  result  of 
an  interview  at  American  Army  headquarters  with  Col. 

A ,   Corps  of  Engineers,  U.S.A.,  commanding  our 

topographical  division.  Its  significance  can  be  appre- 
ciated only  when  it  is  realized  that  the  present  war  has 
revolutionized  methods  of  map  making,  that  a  new  art 
has  been  created,  and  that  men,  even  though  topographi- 
cal specialists  in  civil  life,  must  be  put  through  an  ex- 
tended course  of  training  before  they  can  become  useful 
in  the  new  work  at  the  front,  which  involves  the  taking 
and,  of  equal  importance,  the  interpretation  of  aerial 
photographs.  It  has  been  this  task,  this  rounding  up 
of  the  technically  qualified  men,  molding  them  into  an 

[ 


upon  our  own  resources  for  this  information,  and  will 
continue  to  do  so  in  larger  measure  as  time  goes  on. 

The  topographical  division  must  be  able  to  furnish 
at  quick  notice  maps  of  enemy  ground  and  also  that 
occupied  by  our  own  troops,  the  latter  including  not  only 
the  advance  areas  but  also  the  territory  in  the  rear, 
such  as  sites  of  supply  bases,  hospitals,  aviation  train- 
ing stations,  artillery  and  machine  gun  ranges,  storage 
yards  and  camp  areas.  Obviously,  it  would  be  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  for  a  single  detached  organization 
to  do  the  field  and  air  work  necessary  for  the  pro- 
duction of  all  of  these  maps,  especially  on  an  extended 
front.  The  plan  is,  therefore,  to  have  each  Army  map 
the  territory  along  its  own  front,  while  the  topographi- 
cal division  of  the  intelligence  section,  a  headquarters 
unit,  acts  as  the  general  clearing  house  for  map  informa- 
32     ] 


tion,  and  outlines  the  broad  questions  of  policy  by  which 
the  special  map-making  forces  in  each  Army  are  guided. 
Its  work  involves,  of  course,  very  close  cooperation  with 
the  air  service. 

Fortunately,  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  have 
not  had  to  start  from  the  very  beginning  in  the  matter 
of  maps.  Those  portions  of  the  front  which  we  are 
taking  over  have  been  completely  mapped,  as  the  result 
of  more  than  three  years'  occupation  by  the'  Armies  of 
cur  Allies,  although  the  changing  conditions  on  both 
sides  of  the  line,  involving  the  location  of  new  field 
gun  positions,  roads,  railways,  and  similar  data  of  mili- 
tary importance,  call  for  a  large  amount  of  work  by  our 
men.  And  it  is  pertinent  to  em.phasize  that  our  map- 
making  forcss  must  concern  themselves  with  the  sec- 
tions of  the  rear  as  well  as  those  of  the  front,  and  that 
while  the  aviator  and  observer  with  their  photographic 
apparatus  are  now  bringing  back  information  from 
areas  occupied  by  the  German  armies,  engineer  dotach- 
ments,  with  transit,  level,  sketching-board  and  the  re3t 
of  the  equipment  needed,  are  performing  equally 
valuable  service  back  of  our  lines  and  in  other  zones, 
at  supply  and  ordnance  bases,  for  example,  where 
sizable  cities  must  be  created,  at  railroad  yards,  at  artil- 
lery training  grounds,  and  aviation  fields. 

Our  topographical  division's  first  work  was  a  study 
of  existing  French  maps.  There  is,  to  begin  with,  a  set 
of  maps  with  20-m.  contours,  and  drawn  to  a  scale  of 
1  to  200,000.  These  maps,  prepared  by  the  Service 
Geographique,  correspond  in  a  general  way  to  those 
issued  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey.  They 
are  useful  for  certain  military  purposes,  but  obviously 
the  scale  is  too  small  for  detail  work.  For  Army  staff 
work  the  French  use  the  cartes  d'etat  major,  maps  on  a 
scale  of  1  to  80,000.  There  is  a  series  of  these  maps 
covering  the  whole  of  France,  and  they  give  information 
of  military  value,  such  as  the  location  of  bridges,  roads, 
railroads  and  canals.  Topographical  features,  however, 
are  shown  by  hachures  instead  of  contour  lines,  the 
elevations  of  strategic  points  being  indicated  by  letter- 
ing. There  are  also  maps  on  a  somewhat  larger  scale, 
1  to  50,000,  but  these  are  merely  enlargements  of  the 
cartes  d'etat  major.  In  the  vicinity  of  all  fortified 
places  special  large-scale  maps  had  been  prepared  by 
the  French  before  the  war.  These  maps  contained  a 
considerable  amount  of  detail,  such  as  the  location  of 
trenches,  mines,  etc. 

Next  in  the  list  comes  the  plan  directeur,  on  a  scale 
of  1  to  20,000,  equivalent,  approximately,  t©  3  in.  to 
the  mile,  which  is,  practically,  the  standard  for  use  in 
every  day  field  operations  at  the  front.  Existing  sup 
plies  of  these  maps,  however,  did  not  cover  the  training, 
areas  and  our  topographical  division  has  been  filling 
in  the  gaps  by  plotting  the  results  of  old  French  sur- 
veys which  has  never  before  been  completed  in  the  form 
of  battle  maps.  For  this  work  Arrierican  engineers  are 
using  old  civil  records,  such  as  those  involving  titles  to 
land,  and  department  tax  maps,  which  correspond,  in 
a  general  way,,  to  those  which  would  be  on  file  in  the 
office  of  a  county  surveyor  in  the  United  States.  In 
connection  with  the  work  of  making  the  new  plans 
directeurs  the  American  topographical  division  is  also 
producing  for  special  purposes  a  number  of  maps  on 
still  larger  scales,  1  to  10,000  or  about  6  in.  to  the  mile, 

[ 


A     MUCH-BATTERED     HILL— DOUAUMONT— 2400     METERS 

and  even  1  to  5000,  the  latter,  for  infantry  use,  show- 
ing machine  gun  emplacements  and  practically  every 
other  detail  along  the  front. 

One  of  the  first  field  operations  which  the  topographi- 
cal division  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  car- 
ried out  in  France  was  the  establishment  of  triangula- 
tion  stations  and  the  making  of  a  network  of  traverses 
covering  the  zone  of  our  army  operations  in  the  rear 
areas.  To  this  task  the  division  assigned  picked  men 
of  its  organization  who  had  specialized  in  just  this  kind 
of  work,  many  of  them  having  held  important  posts  in 
the  United  States  Geological  Survey  and  the  United 
States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey.  This  triangulation 
work  has  been  completed  and  is  serving  not  only  as  a 
means  of  coordinating  the  individual  large  scale  maps 
which  are  being  produced,  but  also  is  of  extreme  value 
in  the  establishment  of  reference  points  for  the  guid- 
ance of  our  artillery  fire. 

Early  in  the  war,  when  the  fighting  in  France  ceased 
to  be  in  the  open  and  developed  into  trench  warfare,  the 
conditions  became,  practically,  those  of  a  siege,  and 
large-scale  maps  were  in  demand  in  numbers  greater 
than  had  ever  before  been  considered  necessary.  This 
state  of  affairs  was  responsible  for  the  widespread  pro- 
duction of  the  1  to  20,000-scale  map,  this  scale  being 
now  practically  a  standard  on  the  French,  British  and 
American  fronts.  These  1  to  20,000-scale  maps  are 
known  under  different  names,  plans  directeurs  in  the 
French  armies,  "trench  maps"  in  the  British,  and  "bat- 
tle maps"  in  the  American,  but  they  are  of  practically 
the  same  type  for  all  the  armies.  The  contour  interval 
is  5  m.  Each  map  covers  an  area  20  x  16  km.,  and  is 
divided  into  squares  1  km.  on  a  side.  These  main  grid 
lines  are  numbered  for  general  reference,  and  a  sec- 
ondary system  of  coordinate  numbers  is  applied  to  the 
1-km.  squares  for  the  closer  location  work  required  by 
the  artillery.  It  is  not  strictly  accurate,  by  the  way,  to 
say  that  the  grid  lines  form  true  squares,  for  they  are 
actually  projections,  by  the  Lambert  system,  of  imagin- 
ary north  and  south,  and  east  and  west  lines  on  the 
ground.  Due  to  the  earth's  curvature,  the  projection 
of  the  lines  produces  a  slightly  distorted  "square." 
33     ] 


TRENCH  SYSTEM  SHOWS  PLAINLY  AT  1900  METERS 

The  origin  of  the  coordinate  system  applying  to  all 
of  the  plans  directeurs  is  fixed  at  a  point  so  that  all 
horizontal  map  distances  are  measured  toward  the  east, 
and  all  vertical  distances  toward  the  north.  The  same 
scheme  applies  to  the  indication  of  positions  within 
the  1-km.  squares  where  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
square  is  always  the  origin  of  coordinates.  Thus,  in 
reference  to  a  gun  emplacement  by  coordinates  there  are 
not  both  plus  and  minus  numbers;  all  are  plus.  These 
plans  directeurs  show  the  position  of  the  enemy 
trenches,  but  not  our  own,  except  on  secret  editions  for 
our  staff.  They  also  indicate  German  battery  locations, 
roads,  etc. 

In  connection  with  the  use  by  artillery  of  the  plans 
directeurs,  the  topographical  division  furnishes  the 
means  for  locating  the  position  of  each  fieldpiece  by 
means  of  reference  points  on  the  ground.  These  refer- 
ence points  are  tied  in  to  the  permanent  triangulation 
I)oints.  If  any  movement  of  batteries  forward  or  back- 
ward occurs,  the  topographical  division  must  see  to  it 
that  new  points  of  reference  are  quickly  available.  By 
their  aid  the  battery  commander  can  readily  determine 
the  coordinates  for  the  position  of  each  of  his  guns, 

[     34 


and  having  been  given  similar  data  for  his  objectives 
behind  the  German  lines,  the  setting  of  the  proper 
ranges  becomes  a  simple  matter. 

By  far  the  most  valuable  source  of  information  for 
making  maps  of  forward  areas  is  the  aerial  photograph. 
It  is,  however,  a  subject  on  which  few  details  can  be 
given.  The  work  divides  itself  into  three  phases,  the 
taking  of  the  picture,  its  interpretation  after  develop- 
ment and  reconstruction  of  the  data  in  map  form.  Our 
topographical  division  has  developed  a  force  of  special!:,' 
trained  men  for  the  last  two  steps  of  this  work,  whicn 
calls  for  the  highest  type  of  technical  skill,  long  ex- 
perience and  thorough  familiarity  with  almost  every- 
thing connected  with  modern  warfare.  To  the  un- 
initiated some  of  these  pictures  would  be  absolutely 
meaningless.  Ofter  the  exposures  are  made  at  great 
heights,  when  machines  are  forced  upward  by  anti- 
aircraft fire;  conditions  of  light  may  be  poor;  the  ma- 
chine not  be  flying  horizontally  when  the  exposure  iw 
made,  causing  distortion  in  distances.  In  fact,  scores 
of  variable  factors  enter  into  the  work,  and  the  inter 
preter  of  photographs  taken  in  the  air  must  be  a  man 
of  seasoned  judgment,  able  to  evaluate  each  streak  or 
spot  and  discover  its  true  meaning.  His  work  is  made 
doubly  difficult  by  attempts  to  camouflage  the  posi- 
tions of  enemy  guns.  The  photograph  reader,  therefore, 
must  be  a  student  of  camouflage  in  all  of  its  many 
variations.  After  a  picture  is  made,  no  attempt  is  made 
to  enlarge  or  reduce  it  to  some  uniform  scale.  It  is 
put  under  lenses  of  high  power,  as  well  as  stereoscopes, 
which  bring  the  details  out  in  relief,  and  the  man  who 
reads  its  message  must  be  able  to  make  the  proper 
allowances  for  the  height  at  which  the  exposure  was 
made.  The  usual  height  for  taking  a  picture  from  an 
airplane  for  map-making  purposes,  I  was  told,  is  2500 
meters. 

In  addition  to  its  standard  maps,  the  topographical 
division  is  called  upon  for  many  special  maps,  which 
must  be  prepared  and  issued  quickly  to  staffs.  Speed 
and  accuracy  are  both  essential.  If  an  attack  is  being 
planned,  for  example,  orders  from  headquarters  must 
be  illustrated  by  diagram  maps.  The  topographical 
division,  therefore,  must  be  well  supplied  with  all  the 
map  data  which  could  be  demanded,  and  mufet  be  ready 
to  send  it  out  at  almost  a  moment's  notice. 

As  to  the  accuracy  of  maps  of  enemy  areas  based 
largely  on  information  from  aerial  photographs,  the 
English  and  French,  after  the  advance  in  the  valley 
of  the  Somme  was  made,  had  an  opportunity  of  checking 
their  maps.  I  am  told  that  the  degree  of  accuracy  dis- 
covered was,  on  the  whole,  very  satisfactory,  although 
the  results  of  field  surveys  disclosed  some  points  which 
needed  revision.  During  a  recent  trip  to  the  front  I 
saw  an  enemy  map  which  was  found  on  the  charred 
body  of  a  German  aviator  who  had  been  shot  down 
behind  the  allied  lines.  Half  of  it  had  been  burned 
away,  but  on  what  remained  was  plotted  accurately  in 
red  ink  the  location  of  a  light  railway  spur  of  one  of 
our  Allies  which  had  been  constructed  only  three  days 
before  the  map  was  taken  from  the  dead  body  of  its 
owner. 

Having  begun  with  the  use  of  French  maps,  the 
American  Expeditionary  Forces  have  adopted  the  metric 
system  for  all  of  our  topographical  work.    To  change  to 

] 


miles,  i.istead  of  kilometers,  at  this  date,  would,  it  is 
believed,  result  in  considerable  confusion,  especially  as 
there  are  many  situations  demanding  the  interchange 
of  maps  between  our  own  armies  and  those  of  our 
allies.  Nevertheless,  on  our  maps,  in  addition  to  the 
standard  metric  scale,  is  surprinted  in  red  a  scale  in 
miles,  and  also  a  conversion  table  for  metric  and  Eng- 
lish linear  measurements.  French  terminology  also  will 
be  retained  on  new  maps,  although  a  glossary  of  terms 
is  issued  to  facilitate  their  interpretation. 

A  tour  of  the  "plant"  of  the  topographical  division 
at  headquarters  disclosed  the  work  of  map  making  in 
many  of  its  phases.  Leaving  the  offices  of  the  chief  of 
this  service  we  went  first  to  the  filing  room,  in  which  is 
classified  and  stored  a  large  stock  of  maps  ready  for 
immediate  issue.  An  entire  room  was  devoted  to  map 
storage,  and  piles  of  prints  were  arranged  in  rows  on 
wooden  shelves  extending  from  floor  to  ceiling.  Then 
we  inspected  the  photo-lithography  equipment,  the  print- 
ing presses,  the  gelatine  process  (used  only  when  a 
limited  number  of  copies  is  needed),  the  blueprinting 
machines,  the  drafting-room,  the  photographic  copying 
apparatus  and  the  various  other  features  which  the 
production  of  maps  for  use  in  war  demands.  By  the 
gelatine  process,  which  is  patented,  an  impression  is 
secured  directly  from  a  blueprint  and  transferred  by 
inking  the  gelatine  film  and  applying  blank  sheets  over 
which  a  roller  is  passed.  The  gelatine  process  is  em- 
ployed extensively  for  color  work,  and  especially  for 


THE    AlK    CAMERA    IS    FLEXIBLY    MOUNTED 

making  over-prints — that  is,  adding  new  information  to 
an  existing  map. 

One  of  the  interesting  sights   in  the  topographical 
division  was  a  collection  of  relief  maps.    They  are  used 


HOW  A  RIVER,   A  RAILWAY   JUNCTION,    BILLETS   AND    FORTIFICATIONS    APPEAR    FROM    3200    METERS    UP 

[     35     ] 


to  quite  an  extent  in  staff  work,  and  a  detachment  of 
our  forces  has  been  sent  to  a'  shop  in  Paris  to  learn  how 
to  make  these  maps.  One  method  is  to  mold  them 
directly  while  the  other  involves  the  cutting  up  of  copies 
of  a  map,  mounted  on  cardboard,  along  every  contour 
and  the  arrangement  of  these  sections,  one  above  the 
other,  forming  a  series  of  steps.  The  angles  of  the 
steps  are  then  filled  with  putty  and  a  casting  in  plaster 
of  paris  is  taken,  giving  a  reverse  relief  map.  A  second 
casting,  from  the  reverse,  gives  a  true  relief  map,  and 
over  it  a  contour  map  is  stretched  and  pasted  down. 
The  process  is  said  to  require  a  good  deal  of  skill,  as 
the  application  of  the  contour  map  to  the  casting  in- 


volves the  stretching  of  the  map  fabric  (it  looked  like 
paper)  over  the  mounds  representing  hills. 

While  the  work  of  our  topographical  division  is  pro- 
ceeding its  personnel  is  gradually  being  enlarged,  and 
many  new  men  are  now  being  instructed  in  the  details 
of  the  several  branches  of  this  service.  Every  day  sees 
changes  on  both  sides  of  the  front  which  must  be 
recorded  on  maps.  Thus  the  work  of  the  division  is  a 
never-ending  one^  and  its  members  must  continually  be 
on  the  alert  in  order  to  be  ready  night  or  day  to  supply 
our  forces  with  maps  that  aro  both  accurate  and  up- 
Vo-date. 


Along  the  British  Front  by  Light  Railway 

Experiences  and  Impressions  of  a  Weelt's  Study  of  the  Narrow-Gage 
System  at  Close  Range — How  It  Has  Revolutionized  Salvage 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 


It  was  in  February,  before  the  big  drives  on  the 
Somme  and  in  Flanders,  that  Mr.  Tomlin  spent  a  week 
studying  the  light  railways  along  the  British  front. 
His  story  reached  the  British  authorities  for  censoring 
just  before  the  March  drive.  Nothing  was  heard  of 
it  for  weeks,  but  the  Boches  did  not  capture  it,  and  it 
has  lately  returned  from  the  hands  of  the  British  cen- 

LESS  than  a  yfear  ago  the  British  Armies  in  France 
were  carrying  weekly,  about  12,000  tons  of  muni- 
tions and  supplies  over  a  system  of  "light  railways" 
(60-cm.  gage  and  20-lb.-per-yard  rails)  involving  a 
total  trackage  of  less  than  100  miles.  Motor-truck,  or 
lorry,  transport  over  highways  was,  at  that  time,  the 
main  reliance  for  deliveries  from  standard-gage  rail- 
heads to  the  front.  Today  the  weekly  tonnage  on  light 
railways  has  soared  well  into  six  figures,  the  track 
mileage  into  four  figures,  and  during  a  period  of  about 
lOJ  months  the  highways  have  been  relieved  of  millions 
of  lorry-miles  of  traffic. 

For  obvious  military  reasons  I  cannot  make  this 
statement  more  specific,  but  it  will  serve  to  indicate 
the  really  tremendous  traffic  development  which  has 
taken  place  along  the  British  front.  Light  railways 
have  already  revolutionized  transportation  practice,  and 
the  end  is  not  yet  in  sight.  Far  from  resting  on  its 
present  enormous  mileage  of  60-cm.  tracks,  British  staff 
officers  are  calling  for  more  mileage,  more  engines,  more 
tractors,  more  cars,  A  year's  actual  test  has  demon- 
strated in  the  most  convincing  manner  the  supreme 
importance  of  the  light  railway  in  the  conduct  of  modern 
v/arfare,  for  every  3-ton  load  hauled  relieves  the  high- 
ways of  one  lorry.  Even  now,  the  British  tonnage 
figures  on  light  railways  for  successive  weeks  are  show- 
ing regular  jumps  of  10,000  to  15,000 — there  had  not 
been  a  break  in  the  curve  during  the  17  weeks  preceding 
my  visit  to  the  British  front  in  February.  In  this 
article  reference  to  tonnage  is  based  on  the  long  ton 
of  2240  lb.,  not  our  own  short  ton  of  2000  lb.  To  the 
engineer  these  statistics,  general  as  they  are,  will  in- 
dicate the  place  which  the  light  railway  now  occupies 
in  the  scheme  of  transportation  in  the  war  zone  of 
France,  and  how  the  highways  have  been  relieved  of 
the  heavy  overload  of  traffic  which  demanded  high 
tribute  in  materials  and  men  for  maintenance. 

I  have  just  returned  from  a  week's  tour  along  the 
front,  where,  thanks  to  the  splendid  hospitality  of  our 
British  allies  and  the  detachments  of  our  own  American 
railway  troops  which  are  operating  in  northern  France, 
exceptional  facilities  were  given  me  for  observing  the 
actual  working  of  the  light-railway  systems  from 
Flanders  southward  through  the  valley  of  the  Somme. 
But  before  I  get  into  the  engineering  details  of  my 
story,  let  me  give  a  hasty  outline  of  my  trip. 

I  was  met  at  a  certain  railroad  station  by  a  British 
staff  officer,  and  proceeded  by  automobile  to  British 

[ 


sors.  So  interesting  is  Mr.  Tomlin's  narrative  of  hi» 
experiences  and  impressions  in  getting  the  story  that 
this,  ivith  an  account  of  what  the  light  railways  have 
wade  possible  in  the  way  of  salvaging  of  material,  is 
made  the  basis  of  the  present  article.  A  second  article^ 
setting  forth  how  the  raihvays  are  built,  maintained 
and   operated,  will   be  published  next  week. — Editor. 

general  headquarters,  where  I  was  introduced  to  the 
Director  General  of  Transportation  of  the  British 
Expeditionary  Force.  I  spent  the  afternoon  with  a 
brigadier  general,  the  D.G.T.,  who  very  kindly  per- 
mitted me  to  inspect  his  organization  charts  and  graphic 
records  of  the  trackage  and  tonnage  of  the  light  rail- 
way system  for  all  of  the  British  Armies  in  France — 
charts  on  which  the  curves  were  ever  mounting  at 
steeper  angles. 

After  tea,  I  met  a  brigadier  general,  the  Director  of 
Light  Railways,  who  is  responsible  for  the  construc- 
tion, maintenance  and  operation  of  the  system  along^ 
the  entire  British  front;  a  captain  of  the  Royal  Engi- 
neers, a  veteran  of  the  Gallipoli  campaign  and  the 
great  drive  in  the  valley  of  the  Somme,  who  had  been 
assigned  to  act  as  my  guide  during  the  trip;  and  the 
several  department  heads  in  charge  of  construction, 
operation,  maintenance  and  repair.  Then  we  proceeded 
to  the  field  headquarters  of  a  major  general,  Director 
of  Light  Railways  for  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces,  where  we  spent  the  night. 

Getting  away  to  an  early  start  next  morning  in  a 
British  staff  car,  we  reached  an  Army  light-railway 
headquarters  in  Belgium  and  from  there  traveled  by 
light  railway  through  the  Ypres  sector,  the  superin- 
tendent of  operation  in  this  zone  having  ordered  a 
.  special  train  run  out  toward  the  front  lines  for  my 
benefit.  We  had  about  half  completed  our  ride  when 
an  enemy  airplane  came  soaring  over  the  lines,  evi- 
dently intending  to  attack  an  observation  balloon  which 
v/e  had  just  passed.  British  aircraft  appeared.  Ma- 
chine guns  cut  loose.  Its  petrol  tank  riddled  by  bullets, 
the  Boche  plane  suddenly  emitted  a  great  cloud  of 
black  smoke.  The  framework  caught  fire.  The  flaming- 
machine  reeled  about  in  a  spiral  for  fully  a  minute, 
exhibiting  remarkable  stability,  and  then  plunged  down- 
v/ard,  leaving  a  wake  of  fire. 

Night  found  us  at  ,  where  the  buildings  are 

in  every  conceivable  stage  of  demolition  from  heavy 
shelling.  The  room  we  occupied  in  one  of  them  waa 
ventilated  by  two  great  gashes  which  shells  had  torn 
in  the  ceiling. 

Next  day  we  crossed  into  the  territory  of  another 
Army,  where  the  Assistant  Director  of  Light  Railway* 
explained  the  workings  of  the  operating  control  and 
train-dispatching  systems.  Our  next  stop  was  at  the 
headquarters  of  the  commander  of  one  of  the  first 
American  railway  regiments  to  reach  France  Outfitted 
37     ] 


British  Official  Photographs 

THE  BRITISH  ARMIES.   DURING  THE  PAST  TWELVE    MONTHS.   HAyE   LAID   A  TREMENDOUS    MILEAGE 


with  "tin  hats"  and  gas  masks,  we  ran  by  light  railway, 
under  the  guidance  of  two  captains,  to  within  a  little 
more  than  a  mile  of  the  front-line  trenches,  looping 
back  again  to  camp;  thence  by  automobile  to  British 
A.D.L.R.  headquarters,  where  we  were  the  guests  of 
a  major  at  dinner.  Into  a  shell-ruined  town  for  the 
night  and  away  again  in  the  morning  for  another  Army 
area  where  a  Canadian  lieutenant  colonel,  formerly 
with  the  Union  Pacific,  showed  me  the  workings  of 
Yi'is  light-railway  system,  which  has  the  largest  mileage 
of  any  in  the  British  armies.  Then  with  a  major 
through  a  salvage  yard,  where  all  sorts  of  materials 
recovered  from  the  territory  from  which  the  German 
armies  were  forced  to  retire  are  collected  and  made 
available  for  use  by  British  troops.  And  so  on,  under 
the  guidance  of  another  major  to  two  other  detach- 
ments of  American  railway  troops.   The  last  leg  of  our 

field  trip  took  us  by  automobile  to  ,  where  we 

spent  the  night.  In  the  morning  I  caught  the  train  for 
Paris,  leaving  my  conducting  officer,  for  whom  I  had 
quickly  developed  a  great  liking,  and  who,  for  four 
days,  had  so  cheerfully  submitted  to  my  steady  bombard- 
ment of  questions. 

During  this  tour  I  made  several  trips  toward  various 
parts  of  the  front  on  light-railway  trains  which  British 
and  American  officers  ran  especially  for  my  benefit.  I 
estimate  that  I  rode  50  miles  or  more  by  light  railway 
and  at  least  500  miles  by  automobile,  and  I  walked 
over  a  few  miles  of  track.  Most  of  our  journey  was 
through  territory  formerly  occupied  by  German  forces, 
and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  crossing  and  recrossing  many 
sections  of  the  old  "Hindenburg  line."  It  was  a 
wonderful  trip. 

My  first  ride  was  behind  a  20-hp.  petrol-tractor. 
Starting  from  a  point  near  the  standard-gage  railhead 
of  one  of  the  British  armies,  we  bowled  along  over  a 
fine  straight  section  of  track,  but  as  we  got  nearer  to 
No  Man's  Land  curves  became  more  frequent.  The 
ground  on  either  side  was  pitted  with  shell  craters 
of  all  sizes,  and  through  half-closed  eyes  the  barred 
fields,  with  their  mounds  and  depressions,  looked  like 
a  choppy,  mud-colored  sea.  And  yet  it  is  through 
areas  of  this  sort  that  light  railways  must  be  built  and 
kept  to  fairly  level  grades.  In  the  early  days,  I  was 
told,  it  was  not  uncommon  for  a  steam  locomotive  to 
get  its  boiler  water  from  a  shell  crater.  Now  elevated 
water  tanks  are  provided  at  various  points. 


We  stopped  our  train  to  watch  the  progress  of  the 
air  battle  to  which  I  have  referred,  and  when  we 
resumed  our  trip  I  began  to  notice  the  very  thorough 
system  of  guide  signs  and  warnings  which  the  British 
have  installed  along  their  light  railways.  In  addition 
to  direction  signs  there  were  others  such  as  "Unload 
Here  for  Siege  Battery."  One  of  the  first  signs  to  greet 
me  as  we  got  up  toward  the  front  was  this: 


If  You  Think  Your  Respirator  Is  Faulty  Go  to  the 
Gas  Hut  and  Have  It  Tested 


Mine  was  new,  so  we  dispensed  with  this  formality.  A 
little  farther  along,  another  white  signboard  with  black 
lettering  bore  this  legend: 


Steel  Helmets  To  Be  Worn  and  Gas   Respirators 
Carried    at    "Alert"    Position    Beyond    This    Point 


There  were  other  white  signs  along  the  route,  little 
crosses  of  two  painted  sticks,  here  planted  singly,  there 
in  groups  of  a  dozen  or  more,  signs  which  needed  no 
legend  to  tell  of  the  brave  sacrifice  which  had  been 
made  in  order  that  British  light  railways  might  run 
where  German  trenches  used  to  be. 

It  was  at  a  grade  crossing  in  the  shelled  area,  where 
an  old  highway  and  the  light-railway  line  intersected, 
that  a  certain  grim-humorist  sign  painter  had  outdone 
himself.  It  was  in  territory  that  might  be  upheaved 
at  any  moment  by  a  high-explosive  shell,  where  gas 
attacks  were  an  every-day  possibility,  and  airplane 
bombs  a  constant  menace.  Here,  where  tiny  tractors 
passed  occasionally,  the  arch  wag  had  inscribed  this 
legend : 


DANGER— RAILWAY  CROSSING 


Much  of  the  country  over  which  I  passed  on  this 
and  subsequent  trips  had  formerly  been  in  German 
aands.  "We're  running  light  railways  now,"  said  a 
British  officer  to  me,  "where  only  a  few  months  ago 
we  were  crawling  forward  on  our  bellies."  I  saw  a 
number  of  enemy  "pill  boxes"  along  the  light-railway 
line,  concrete  structures  with  walls  4  ft.  thick.  Some 
of  these  were  built  of  molded  blocks,  while  others, 
apparently,  had  been  cast  in  place,  heavily  reinforced 
with  steel.  Here  and  there  a  branch  would  lead  off  to 
38     ] 


OF  LIGHT-RAILWAY  TRACK  ALONG  THE  FRONT,  IN  BOTH  THE  FORWARD  AND  THE  REAR  AREAS 


a  gun  emplacement,  and  the  variety  of  camouflage  at 
these  points  was  almost  unlimited.  A  most  remarkable 
sight  was  the  crater  of  an  old  British  mine.  The  hole 
was.  I  should  judge,  nearly  300  ft.  in  diameter,  and 
from  50  to  75  ft.  deep. 

It  was  on  the  section  operated  by  an  American 
detachment  that  I  got  closest  to  the  enemy  line.  Tt 
happened  to  be  a  cloudy  day  and  we  passed  around  a 
loop  which  is  about  3000  yd.  from  the  first-line  trenches. 
Part  of  the  way  a  hill  sheltered  us,  but  running  beyond 
it  we  were,  for  15  minutes  or  so,  under  direct  observa- 
tion by  German  artillery. 

"See  that  line  of  trees  over  there?"  one  of  the  officers 
asked.  "The  Boches  are  on  the  ridge  just  behind  them." 
It  had  never  occurred  to  me  until  then  how  slowly  our 
train  was  running! 

That  our  troops  are  not  working  in  what  might  be 
termed  a  health  resort  is  evident  from  a  few  excerpts 
from  the  weekly  reports  of  an  American  officer  which 
I  was  allowed  to  read.     Here  is  one  entry: 

"On ,  while  tractor  was  hauling  cars  of  rations 

and  water,  gas  shell  struck  ration  car  and  derailed  it. 
Another  gas  shell  struck  tractor  as  it  was  backing 
away,  derailing  it  also.  One  British  and  three  Ameri- 
cans gassed,  but  are  recovering." 

Farther  on  I  read: 

"Track  blown  out.  While  repairs  being  made  track 
near  by  broken  in  three  places  by  shell  fire.  Two  men 
knocked  down." 

One  of  the  surprising  developments  which  have  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake  of  the  light-railway  work  is  the 
salvage  of  material  on  old  battlefields.  Without  light 
railways  it  was  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  collect  and 
transport  to  the  rear  the  equipment  used  in  former 
activities.  In  one  army  area  where  I  studied  the 
salvage  system — which,  by  the  way,  is  of  fairly  recent 
origin — about  250,000  tons  of  usable  material  had  al- 
ready been  recovered  and  shipped  back  for  reissue  to 
the  British  forces.  All  of  this  stuff  was  from  ground 
which  the  Germans  had  been  forced  to  relinquish.  The 
principal  products  which  the  salvage  forces  had  col- 
lected, as  shown  in  one  of  the  photographs,  were  tim- 
ber from  old  German  dugouts,  rail,  corrugated  iron, 
barbed  wire,  chicken  wire  and  expanded-metal  trench 
revetment,  ties,  duck-boards,  old  rifles,  shell  cases, 
clothing,  tools  of  various  kinds,  stakes,  hose,  bolts  and 

[     39 


nuts — in  fact,  the  thousand  and  one  odds  and  ends  which 
constitute  the  debris  of  battle. 

A  major  in  charge  of  a  salvage  dump  which  I  in- 
spected told  me  of  the  results  of  this  work  in  his 
own  area.  "We  are  now  getting  thousands  of  timber 
setts  from  old  dugouts  and  tunnels,"  he  said.  "In  the 
past  10  days,  for  instance,  we  have  recovered  about 
1600  tons  of  wire,  and  before  the  Cambrai  'show'  we 
were  responsible  for  33,000  tons  of  recovered  material 
which  was  sent  forward  for  reuse  by  British  troops." 
Timber  is  so  exceedingly  valuable  at  the  front  that 
special  crews  of  tunnelers  are  organized  and  trained 
to  recover  it  from  old  dugouts. 

At  the  dump  where  we  happened  to  be,  I  was  told 
that  the  weekly  turnover  of  material  averaged  1200 
tons.  On  one  day  3500  shovels  were  sent  back  to  be 
reissued.  Shell  cases  to  the  number  of  12,000,  each 
worth  from  seven  to  ten  shillings,  represented  another 
single  week's  haul.  Three  hundred  rifles  is  considered 
a  normal  week's  return.  Old  rifles  receive  an  oil  bath 
and  a  cleaning  before  being  shipped  back.  Old  tin  cans 
are  a  profitable  source  of  solder.  They  are  heated  in 
a  homemade  furnace,  itself  made  of  salvaged  material, 
and  supply  enough  solder  to  keep  a  few  large  work- 
shops in  babbitt  metal.  The  walls  of  the  melting  fur- 
nace are  made  of  old  petrol  cans  filled  with  sand. 

The  salvage  organization  is  left  very  much  to  its 
own  resources  in  the  matter  of  its  equipment.  "Go  out 
and  find  it,"  seems  to  be  the  motto.  It  recovers  rail 
for  its  own  trackage,  and  often  must  build  its  ovm 
cars  out  of  the  old  trucks  and  timber  brought  in  from 
the  field.  While  most  of  the  material  from  the  field  is 
delivered  to  the  salvage  dump  by  the  light  railways, 
some  comes  in  by  lorries.  The  dump  itself  is  arranged 
for  lorry  delivery  on  one  side,  and  light-railway  delivery 
on  the  other.  Material  is  all  classified  at  the  dump. 
Here  one  sees  a  pile  of  duck-boards,  there  a  mound  of 
wire,  then  some  piles  of  shell  cases,  railroad  ties,  rails, 
etc.  Through  the  middle  of  the  dump  a  standard-gage 
railroad  line  runs  for  delivery  to  bases  in  the  rear, 
where  the  material  is  put  in  serviceable  condition  for 
further  use. 

In  the  old  days  nobody  paid  much  attention  to  the 
possibilities  of  salvage,  and  for  a  good  reason;  there 
was  no  way  to  recover  material  quickly  and — the  im- 
portant point — with  a  low  expenditure  of  man  power. 

] 


b 


British  Official  Photograpii 

THIS  IS  THE  KIND  OF  MATERIAL  THE  SALVAGE  FORGJiS  RECOVER  BY  MEANS  OF  THE  LIGHT  RAILWAYS 


This  condition  light  railways  have  changed.  Into  crater- 
marked  regions  where  highway  building  would  be  a 
long  and  tedious  operation,  light  railways  can  be  ex- 
tended   without    much    trouble.      With    transportation 


facilities  available  the  whole  economic  situation  with 
regard  to  salvage  on  a  large  scale  appeared  in  a  new 
light,  and  the  work  now  returns  an  excellent  income  on 
the  comparatively  small  investment  in  labor. 


[     40     ] 


British  Official  Photograph 


The  Light  Railway  Along  the  British  Front  at  Close  Range 

Where  and  How  the  Lines  Are  Built,  How  They  Are  Maintained  and  Operated,  and  What  They 
Accomplish — Highways  Relieved  of  Their  Overload 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War    Correspondent   of    Engineering    News-Record 

Last  week  Mr.  Tomlin  related  how  he  obtained  the  story  of  the  light  railways  along  the  front.  He  also  set 
forth  how  these  railways  have  revolutionized  the  salvage  of  material.  This  week  he  tells  how  the  railways  are 
built,  maintained  and  operated. — Editor. 


THE  primary  function  of  the  light  railway,  as  ex- 
plained in  a  former  article  (Engineering  News-Rec- 
ord of  Mar.  14,  1918,  p.  508)  is  to  deliver  ammunition, 
troops,  rations  and  supplies  from  standard-gage  rail- 
heads to  points  near  the  front,  and  by  so  doing  relieve 
the  highways  of  the  enormous  burden  of  traffic  which 
they  used  to  carry.  The  accompanying  sketch  plan 
(Fig.  1),  which  is  purely  theoretical  and  does  not  con- 
vey information  as  to  any  actual  location  on  the  ground, 
will  show  the  general  relation  to  one  another  of  the 
parts  of  a  light  railway  system  for  the  battlefront,  and 
the  area  in  the  rear. 

In  the  extreme  forward  section,  it  will  be  noted,  rope- 
ways or  push  trolleys  may  be  provided,  although  many 
situations  demand  the  packing  of  ammunition  and  sup- 
plies on  the  backs  of  animals  or  men.  Where  possi- 
ble, spurs  are  run  out  to  artillery  batteries,  to  which 
ammunition  is  delivered,  one  carload  at  a  time.  Fur- 
ther to  the  rear,  will  be  noted  the  various  "dumps"  for 
ammunition  and  stores.  The  designation  *'R.  E."  on 
the  sketch  means  "Royal  Engineers,"  and  when  used  in 
connection  with  supplies  refers  to  such  material  as  tim- 
ber, sand  bags,  wire  mesh  trench  revetment,  barbed 
wire,  corrugated-iron  covering  for  dugouts  and  huts, 
duckboards,  etc.  At  the  extreme  left  the  letters 
"C.  C.  S."  signify  "Casualty  Clearing  Station,"  to  which 
the  wounded  are  brought  back,  on  light  railway  cars. 

The  layout  at  the  railhead  (Fig.  3)  provides  for  the 
transshipment  of  material  from  the  standard-gage  rail- 
road to  the  light  railway,  for  the  assembly  of  cars  into 
trains,  and  for  the  storage  of  ammunition,  ordnance  and 
supplies.  Fig.  2  shows  a  light  railway  delivering  a 
load  of  rations  to  wagon  trains. 

[ 


The  diagram  shows  also  the  loop  system  and  cross 
connections  which  are  characteristic  of  British  light- 
railway  practice.  The  idea  is  to  have  the  loaded  cars 
move  forward  on  only  one  side  of  the  loop,  and  the 
empties  return  on  the  other.  Even  where  turnouts  are 
built,  the  British  endeavor  to  prevent  even  short-haul 
train  movements  in  opposite  directions  on  the  same 
side  of  a  loop,  and  during  my  trip  over  the  lines  a  non- 
commissioned officer  in  charge  of  a  gang  building  dug- 
cuts  was  called  to  account  for  running  a  light  push  car 
forward  on  the  track  over  which  our  train  was  making 
the  inbound  journey. 

Although  I  saw  some  short  sections  of  double  track, 
the  general  practice  here  is  to  construct  single  track 
only,  thus  offering  a  smaller  target  for  shell  fire  and 
cutting  down  the  time  needed  for  repair  work  if  the 
track  should  be  hit. 

The  mileage  of  light  railway  track  per  mile  of  battle- 
front  varies  within  wide  limits.  In  a  quiet  sector  it 
may  be  as  little  as  five  miles,  while  in  territory  where 
there  is  much  activity  there  may  be  a  mileage  of  10, 
12  or  even  more  per  mile  of  front.  A  single-track  light 
railway  weighs  about  72  tons  a  mile  for  rail,  connec- 
tions and  ties,  while,  as  a  rough  average,  800  tons  of 
ballast  per  mile  is  necessary,  unless  the  ground  is  unu- 
sually bad.  I  was  told  that  the  grading,  laying  and  bal- 
lasting of  one  mile  of  finished  track  requires,  normally, 
about  2400  man-days  of  labor.  On  some  speedier  work 
1760  man-days  of  labor  per  mile  of  track  were  recorded, 
while  during  the  Cambrai  "show" — every  big  engage- 
ment is  called  a  "show"  over  here — a  Canadian  lieuten- 
ant colonel  and  his  men  laid  six  miles  of  track  in  60 
hours. 
41     ] 


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Repair  work  for  all  British  armies 
at  the  time  of  my  visit  was  involving 
the  replacement  each  week  of  from 
1500  to  2000  ft.  of  track  broken  by 
shell  fire.  This  is  an  almost  insig- 
nificant percentage  of  the  total.  In 
one  army,  however,  95  breaks  in  one 
day,  due  to  shelling,  were  recorded, 
but  this  army  has  a  greater  track 
mileage  than  any  other. 

At  the  head  of  the  organization 
which  is  assigned  to  light  railways  is 
the  Director  of  Light  Railways  (D. 
L.  R.)  who  reports  to  the  Director 
General  of  Transportation  (D.  G. 
T.).  A  mere  listing  of  the  various 
rungs  in  the  organization  ladder, 
however,  would  fail  to  convey  an 
adequate  idea  of  its  real  character. 
It  is  only  when  you  circulate  through 
the  headquarters  offices,  go  out  on 
the  line  among  the  men,  and  see  the 
splendid  work  they  are  doing,  that 
you  obtain  a  true  appreciation  of 
the  light-railway  forces.  Both  Brit- 
ish and  American  officers  are  all  rail- 
way specialists,  hailing  from  every 
corner  of  the  world — men  who  have 
built  and  operated  railroads  in  Great 
Britain,  the  United  States,  Brazil, 
Canada,  the  Argentine,  India,  Mex- 
ico and  elsewhere.  The  American 
force  on  one  section  of  the  line,  for 
example,  had  been  recruited,  whole 
companies  at  a  time,  from  such 
American  roads  as  the  Boston  &  Al- 
bany, Maine  Central,  New  York,  New 
Haven  &  Hartford,  and  Boston  & 
Maine.  The  commissioned  officers  in 
these  various  companies,  as  a  rule, 
came  from  the  same  railroads  as  the 
enlisted  men. 

Having  spent  most  of  my  time 
among  oflScers  and  observed  the 
splendid  esprit  de  corps  which  pre- 
vails over  the  whole  front,  I  was  in- 
terested in  getting  the  enlisted  man's 
point  of  view,  and  during  a  stop  at  a 
siding  I  went  up  forward  for  a  chat 
with  the  engine  driver  and  the  brake- 
man  of  our  train.  One,  I  found,  had 
served  on  the  B.  &  A.,  and  the  other 
on  the  New  York,  New  Haven  & 
Hartford. 

"Quite  a  difference  between  this 
job  and  the  one  back  home  on  the 
B.  &  A.,"  I  said  to  the  driver.  "What 
gives  you  the  most  trouble  in  run- 
ning one  of  these  tractors?" 

He  didn't  hesitate  a  minute. 
"She's  off  the  iron  a  little  more  than 
I  like." 

Here  was  a  man,  who,  by  night  or 
by  day,  nosed  his  trainloads  of  am- 
munition or  supplies  up  into  the  dan- 


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FIG.  1.     SKETCH  PLAN  INDICATES 

RELATION  OF  VARIOUS  PARTS  OF 

A  LIGHT-RAILWAY   SYSTEM 


gzr  zona  v/hare  high-explosive  shells, 
gas  attacks  and  bombs  from  air- 
planes were  all  part  of  the  day's 
work,  and  his  chief  concern  was  not 
of  these  things,  but  of  engine  derail- 
ments, of  being  "off  the  iron,"  of 
delays  which  would  slow  up  deliv- 
eries. In  answering  my  question,  he 
had,  unconsciously,  given  me  some- 
thing for  which  I  had  been  blindly 
groping — a  crystallization  in  words 
of  the  spirit  which  animates  the 
light-railway  organization. 

In  the  location  of  light  railways  no 
hard  and  fast  rules  other  than  those 
given  in  the  article  in  this  journal, 
previously  referred  to,  can  be  laid 
down.  The  basic  principle  is  that 
the  line  must  follow  the  contour  of 
the  ground  as  closely  as  possible, 
although  sometimes  a  trestle  is  built 
(Fig.  4).  Heavy  cuts  or  fills  must 
be  avoided.  It  follows,  therefore, 
that  a  light  railway  line,  particularly 
near  the  front,  contains  a  good  many 
curves;  the  sharpest  are  of  30-m. 
radius.  An  effort  is  made  to  keep 
the  ruling  grade  below  2i%,  but  in 
some  places  4%  grades  are  required 
by  local  conditions. 

As  to  proximity  to  the  front,  prac- 
tice varies  considerably  also.  In  very 
quiet  sectors,  however,  the  lines  may 
run  as  far  forward  as  the  reserve 
trenches.  In  others,  single  track 
known  as  "trench  tramways"  are 
used.  Location  depends  upon  the 
ground  and  the  conditions  with  re- 
gard to  observation  by  the  enemy. 

Fig.  5  gives  a  good  idea  of  how  a 
light  railway  line  is  constructed. 
Rail  connections  are  made  by  fish- 
plates and  bolts,  four  bolts  per 
joint.  A  radical  change  in  practice 
has  gone  into  effect  recently  involv- 
ing the  substitution  of  wood  for  steel 
ties.  I  traveled  over  a  great  many 
miles  of  line  in  the  Flanders  area, 
and  close  contact  with  the  all-prevail- 
ing mud  of  that  region  indicated 
quickly  the  reason  for  providing  as 
large  a  bearing  area  as  possible  for 
the  track.  The  wood  ties  are  about 
4i  ft.  long,  7  in.  wide  and  4i  in. 
thick.  When  steel  ties  were  used 
the  track  sections,  built  up  com- 
plete with  ties,  were  delivered  and 
laid  in  lengths  of  5  m.  The  change 
to  wooden  ties,  however,  makes  it 
necessary  to  spike  down  the  rails  in 
the  field.  I  passed  over  long  sections 
of  old  construction  where  wooden 
ties  had  been  inserted  under  the  rails 
between  pairs  of  the  steel  ties.  ' 

Much  of  the  ground  in  the  north- 


[     42     ] 


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British  Official  Photograph 
PIG.  2.     THE   PRIMARY   FUNCTION   OF  LIGHT  RAILWAYS  IS  TO  DELIVER  RATIONS,  AMMUNITION  AND  SUPPLIES  TO 
POINTS  FROM  WHICH  THEY  CAN  BE  QUICKLY  DELIVERED  TO  THE  TROOPS 


ern  areas  occupied  by  the  British  armies  is  a  regular 
morass,  so  that  the  drainage  of  the  light-railway  road- 
bed is  an  extremely  important  part  of  the  construction. 
Ditches  on  one  or  both  sides  of  the  line  are  universal. 
In  looking  over  the  weekly  reports  in  an  American  cap- 
tain's quarters,  I  found  a  record  of  a  17-ton  locomotive 
which  had  toppled  over  on  its  side  when  standing  still, 
due  to  settlement  of  the  saturated  ground  on  which  the 
track  was  laid. 

The  construction  and  maintenance  problems  are  fur- 
ther complicated  by  the  scarcity  of  good  ballast.  The 
most  easily  obtainable  material  is  the  chalk  which  is 
characteristic  of  this  region,  and  large  quantities  of  it 
are  employed  for  track  ballast  if  nothing  better  can  be 
had  (Fig.  6).  The  chalk,  fairly  satisfactory  in  dry 
weather,  "turns  to  cream  when  it  rains" — ^to  use  the 
phrase  of  one  of  the  officers  who  was  discussing  its  prop- 
erties with  me.  Another  objection  to  chalk  ballast  is 
that  it  shows  up  prominently  in  aerial  photographs  and 
offers  a  good  target  for  artillery  fire  or  bombing. 

Back  of  one  of  the  American  railway  camps  is  a  pit 
from  which  sand  is  being  taken  for  track  ballast,  and  it 
is  proving  very  satisfactory.  In  this  area  the  old  chalk 
ballast  is  either  being  removed  and  replaced  by  sand,  or 
else  covered  with  sand.  Another  material  for  ballast 
is  what  is  called  "mine  earth,"  but  this  is  to  be  had 
only  in  places  near  the  coal-mining  regions.  It  is  a 
waste  product,  looks  like  slate,  and  serves  fairly  well 
as  ballast. 

Traveling  over  certain  sections  in  northern  France 
and  Belgium,  I  looked  down  between  the  rails  and  read 
there  the  tragedy  of  cities  that  are  no  more,  for  brick 
and  stone — all  that  remains  of  the  buildings  in  what 
used  to  be  towns  near  the  front — are  used  to  a  limited 
extent  near  destroyed  villages  for  ballasting  light-rail- 
way tracks.  A  Government  permit  is  required  for  the 
removal  of  this  debris. 

In  spite  of  all  the  difficulties  of'  construction  and 
scarcity  of  materials,  the  track,  in  all  of  the  regions 
where  I  traveled,  is  in  very  good  condition.     Derail- 

,    [     43 


ments  occur,  of  course,  but  with  the  comparatively  light 
rolling  stock  used  it  is  not  much  of  a  job  to  get  an 
engine  or  tractor  back  on  the  rails.  Rounding  a  curve 
at  Ypres,  where  the  track  makes  sharp  turns  to  dodge 
the  ruins  of  buildings,  our  petrol  tractor — a  20-hp.  ma- 
chine— was  derailed.  With  a  few  wood  blocks  and  steel 
bars,  carried  by  every  train,  we  got  it  quickly  on  the 
rails.  Another  time,  when  our  tractor  became  unruly 
and  jumped  the  track,  it  was  lifted  bodily  and  replaced 
by  a  working  crew  which  happened  to  be  near — just  a 
case  of  "Off  agin,  on  agin,  gone  agin — Finnegan." 

Maintenance  is  consolidated  with  construction  in  the 
extreme  forward  areas,  while  farther  to  the  rear  sepa- 
rate gangs  are  assigned  to  these  two  duties.  The  chief 
task  is  the  relining  and  reballasting  of  track — for  some 
of  the  very  muddy  areas  are  great  "ballast  eaters" — 
and  the  repair  of  breaks  due  to  shelling.  The  mainte- 
nance crew  must  also  keep  the  drainage  ditches  and  cul- 
verts clear.  During  periods  of  frost  and  thaw  a  great 
deal  of  resurfacing  is  called  for,  and  at  such  times  the 
chalk  ballast  is  particularly  troublesome.  Repair  of 
track  broken  by  shell  fire  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  main- 
tenance or  construction  gang,  according  to  whether  the 
damage  is  at  the  front  or  rear.  I  was  told  at  head- 
quarters that  for  all  the  British  armies  the  maintenance 
work  requires  about  14  men  per  mile  of  track.  Break- 
age due  to  shelling  at  the  time  of  my  visit  varied  be- 
tween 1500  and  2000  ft.  of  track  a  week  for  the  entire 
front. 

The  hauling  of  light-railway  trains  is  done  by  several 
types  of  engine.  In  the  rear  area  three  makes  of  coal- 
burning  steam  locomotives  predominate.  Near  the 
front,  where  smoke  and  steam  would  draw  enemy  artil- 
lery fire,  petrol-electric  and  plain  petrol  tractors  do  the 
work.  Two  of  the  types  of  steam  locomotive  weigh 
about  14  tons  each  and  the  third  17  tons.  The  40  to  45- 
hp.  petrol-electric,  or  "P.  E.,"  as  it  is  called,  weighs  six 
tons.  The  light  petrol  tractor,  20-hp.,  weighs  somewhat 
less  than  two  tons.  There  is,  in  addition,  a  tractor 
weighing  about  one  ton,  which  consists  of  a  small  auto 

] 


engine  on  a  special  truck;  it  is  used  for  inspection  trips 
or  for  hauling  single  carloads  near  the  front.  The  table 
printed  elsewhere  in  this  article  gives  the  load  test  on 
different  grades  for  the  several  types  of  machine. 

The  steam  locomotives,  on  account  of  their  visibility, 
as  before  noted,  and  also  the  desirability  of  running 
them  on  track  which  is  fairly  well  aligned,  are  reserved 


I  asked  one  engine  driver  about  the  relative  operating 
difficulties  with  the  light  and  heavy  rolling  stock.'  He 
replied,  in  substance,  that  the  "P.  E.'s"  and  steam  en- 
gines, if  derailed,  dug  dovra  into  the  roadbed,  and,  on 
account  of  their  weight,  came  to  a  quick  stop.  The 
lighter  machines,  while  easier  to  handle  in  case  of  acci- 
dents, generally  ran  farther  off  the  rails. 


PIGS.  3  AND  4.  THE  LAYOUT 
AT  THE  STAXDARD-GAGE 
RAILHEAD  PROVIDES  FOR 
TRANSSHIPMENT      TO      THE 


British  Officio^  Photographs 


LIGHT  RAILWAY  CARS— OC- 
CASIONALLY IT  IS  NECES- 
SARY TO  BUILD  A  TRESTLE 


principally  for  the  rear-area  haulage,  while  the  petrol- 
electrics,  and  particularly  the  lighter  petrol  tractors,  are 
for  use  close  to  the  front  lines.  The  petrol-electrics  are 
equipped  with  internal  combustion  engines  and  gen- 
erators, the  motors  being  mounted  directly  on  the  axles. 
As  indicated  in  the  table,  they  are  for  heavier  work 
than  the  plain  petrol  machines. 


On  the  petrol-tractor  trains  the  crew  consists  of  two 
men,  driver  and  brakeman.  With  steam  haulage,  a  third 
man,  the  fireman,  is  required.  The  maximum  speed  al- 
lowed is  about  eight  miles  per  hour,  with  a  limit  of 
three  miles  per  hour  at  grade  crossings. 

A  great  many  types  of  cars  are  used  in  light-railway 
operation,  depending  on  the  kind  of  material  to  be 


British  Official  Photograph 
FIG.  6.     IN   CONSTRUCTING   LIGHT   RAILWAYS    IT    IS   ALMOST  UNIVERSAL  PRACTICE   NOW   TO   USE  WOODEN   TIES, 
INSTEAD  OP  THE  STEEL  TIES  FORMERLY   MADE  UP  AS  PART  OF  EACH  TRACK  SECTION 

[     44     ] 


Britisii  uMcial  Photograph 

FIG.   6.     A    SECTION 


OF    TRACK    BALLASTED    WITH    THE  CHALK  FOUND  IN  THE  VICINITY 


Note  also  the  switches,  the  drainage  ditch  at  the  right,  which  is  a  very    important    feature    in    muddy    ground,    the    type    of    steam 
locomotive  with  water  tanks  on  either  side  of  boiler,  the  cars  and  the  character  of  material  carried  in  them 


FIGS.  7  AND  8.  GONDOLA 
CARS  OF  THE  FLAT-BOTTOM 
AND  WELL-BOTTOM  TYPES 
ARE  USED   IN  LARGE   NUM- 


British  Official  Photoprapha 


BERS— THE  WOUNDED  ARE 
TRANSPORTED  IN  SPECIAL 
CARS    BY    LIGHT    RAILWAY 


hauled.  The  bulk  of  the  freight  handled  comes  under 
the  following  classifications :  Ammunition,  timber,  coal 
and  coke,  rations,  ballast,  R.  E.  stores,  salvage,  stone  for 
highway  maintenance,  with  troops  going  to  or  return- 
ing from  the  front.    In  one  army  which  I  visited  about 


LOAD  TEST,  IN  LONG  TONS,  FOR  LIGHT  RAILWAY  ENGINES  AND 

TRACTORS  ON  BRITISH  FRONT  IN  FRANCE 
Eauivalent 

Gradfi, 
Per  Cent. 

0.5 
0.5-1.0 
10-15 
15-2  0 
2  0-2  5 
2.5-3  n 


Petrol- 

Petrol 

team 

Electric, 

Tractor, 

motives 

40-Hp. 

20-Hp. 

164 

82 

33 

105 

53 

21 

78 

39 

16 

62 

31 

12 

50 

25 

10 

44 

22 

9 

a  dozen  different  kinds  of  car  were  in  service.  The 
prevailing  car  (Fig.  7)  is  a  gondola  about  20  ft.  long 
and  5  ft.  wide,  made  in  both  the  flat  and  the  well  types. 
These  cars  can  carry  about  10  tons  of  ammunition,  but 
with  lighter  and  more  bulky  material,  such  as  R.  E. 
stores,  the  load  per  car  may  be  only  five  or  six  tons. 
With  troops  the  load  per  car  will  average  about  three 
tons.  For  perishable  rations  covered  box  cars  are  avail- 
able. Then,  too,  there  are  small  four-wheeled  wagons,  8 
ft.  in  length,  for  loads  of  3i  tons  each.  For  the  hauling 
of  heavy  ordnance  special  trucks  have  been  developed. 
Hospital  cars  (Fig.  8),  fitted  up  with  banks  of  berths 
for  carrying  the  wounded,  are  included  in  the  rolling 


[     45     ] 


Bi-i^ish  Official  Photopraphs 

FIGS.  9  AND  10.     WHEN  THE  HEAVIER  STEAM  LOCOMOTIVES  ARE  DERAILED,  WRECKING  CARS  LIFT  THEM  BACK 
The  lighter  petrol  tractors  can  often  be  handled  by  blocking,  steel  bars  or  rerailing  irons 


stock.  I  was  told  by  the  Assistant  Director  of  Light 
Railways  in  one  army  zone  that  under  normal  operating 
conditions  he  considered  75  tons  per  10-ton  car  per  week 
a  fair  working  average. 

In  addition  to  the  car  types  enumerated,  there  are 
wrecking  cars  and  cranes  (Figs.  9  and  10),  for  lifting 
derailed  engines  and  tractors,  and  special  groups  of  four 
or  more  cars,  each  20  ft.  long  and  5  ft.  4  in.  wide,  con- 
stituting machine  shops  on  wheels  (Fig.  11).  The 
equipment  in  the  latter  includes  drills,  grinders,  hack- 
saws, lathes  and  planers.  These  tools  are  operated  by 
power  from  one  of  the  standard  petrol-electric  trac- 
tors, which,  if  the  occasion  should  demand,  can  haul  the 
machine  shop  forward  or  backward.  The  shop  on 
wheels  remains  in  one  location,  however,  unless  it  is 
decided  to  change  the  light-railway  base.  The  sides  of 
these  machine-shop  cars  are  hinged  at  the  bottom  and 
open  outward,  forming  a  platform  extension  on  each 
side. 

Where  the  repair  work  is  too  heavy  or  complicated  to 
be  handled  readily  in  the  field,  the  rolling  stock  is  shipped 
to  a  large  central  repair  plant,  thoroughly  equipped 
with  machine  tools,  spare  parts  and  appliances  of  every 
sort  for  rehabilitating  engines  or  cars  suffering  from 
"shell  shock"  or  other  ailments  incident  to  light-rail- 
way operation.  We  had  intended  to  make  a  detour  in 
our  route  for  a  visit  to  this  central  plant,  but  our 
schedule  was  so  full  that  time  did  not  permit  an  inspec- 
tion of  this  very  important  feature  of  light-railway 
work. 


The  information  concerning  light  railways  which  I 
had  picked  up  in  scraps  of  conversation  here  and  there 
before  my  visit  to  the  front  had  led  me  to  believe  that 
these  systems  were  operated  to  some  extent  on  the  go- 
as-you-please  plan.  An  inspection  of  the  field  control 
posts  and  central  train-despatching  offices  in  every 
army  on  the  British  front  quickly  dispelled  this  impres- 
sion. Traffic  is  closely  regulated,  and  the  system  in 
force  allows  the  A.  D.  L.  R.  or  his  assistants  to  know  at 
every  hour  of  the  day  where  each  engine,  tractor  or 
car  is,  whether  it  is  loaded  or  empty,  what  kind  of 
freight  is  being  hauled,  and  scores  of  similar  details.  In 
fact,  one  of  our  American  railway  operating  detach- 
ments has  gone  to  the  length  of  preparing  a  timetable 
for  its  section.  The  operating  scheme  in  all  of  its  main 
features  is  standardized  along  the  whole  front.  From 
the  nature  of  things  operation  in  the  forward  zone  is 
largely  at  night. 

In  every  army  zone  there  are  a  central  control  station 
near  A.  D.  L.  R.  headquarters  and  district  control  posts 
at  various  points  on  the  line,  in  direct  telephonic  com- 
munication with  the  main  station.  The  time  of  depar- 
ture of  a  train  from  the  yards  is  telephoned  to  the  dis- 
trict posts,  with  the  approximate  time  of  arrival  at  the 
latter,  and  no  train  is  allowed  to  pass  a  district  post  un- 
less the  attendant  has  been  so  authorized. 

On  one  wall  of  every  central  control  post  is  a  long 
board  with  slotted  wooden  strips  corresponding  to  every 
section  of  main  track  and  siding  in  the  system.  Code 
numbers  are  given  to  each  "station"  on  the  line,  and 


British  Official  FTiotograph 

FIG.  11.     ORDINARY  FIELD  REPAIRS  TO  ROLLING  STOCK  ARE  MADE  IN  A  MACHINE  SHOP  ON  WHEELS 
For  heavy  repair  work  and  general  overhauling  equipment  is  sent  to  a  central  repair  plant 


[     46     ] 


I 


ii.B.r.  A.  14 


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DATE 


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FIG. 14 


these  are  lettered  on  the  board  Clips,  with  hooks  which 
fit  into  grooves  representing  the  track,  are  hung  up  for 
each  train  and  moved  forward  or  backward  in  accord- 
ance with  reports  on  movements.  A  glance  at  the  chart 
with  its  clips — red  for  "loaded"  and  green  for  "empty" 
— shows  the  position  of  every  train  in  operation. 

When  a  train  is  made  up  a  form  (Fig.  12)  is  filled  out, 
showing  the  number  of  the  engine  or  tractor,  the  names 
of  the  crew,  the  destination,  etc.  For  each  car  a  "chit" 
(Fig.  13)  and  waybill  (Fig.  14)  are  prepared.  Then 
all  the  forms  for  one  train  are  attached  to  the  clip  on 
the  main  board  and  are  moved  back  and  forth  with  it. 
This  gives  a  complete  and  immediate  record.  In  light 
railway  operation  time  is  recorded  according  to  a  24- 
hour  system,  starting  at  midnight.  Thus  a  train  does 
not  leave  at  "9  p.m.,"  but  at  "21  hr." 

At  each  "station"  on  the  main  board  is  a  small  tin  box 
with  two  divisions  labelled  "loaded"  and  "empty." 
When  a  car  is  dropped  from  a  train  at  any  "station"  or 
siding  this  fact  is  reported  by  telephone  to  the  central 
control  station.  The  "chit"  for  the  car  is  then  removed 
from  its  clip  and  deposited  in  the  "loaded"  compartment 
of  the  proper  tin  box  and  transferred  to  the  "empty" 
compartment  at  the  right  time.  Thus,  information  as 
to  the  location  of  the  empties,  for  subsequent  collection, 
is  always  at  hand.  When  an  engine  has  finished  its  run 
the  chits  are  removed  from  the  tin  boxes  on  the  control 
board  and  given  to  clerks  who  keep  complete  statistical 
records  of  the  tonnage  hauled. 

In  addition  to  this  main  train-despatching  board  there 
are  separate  boards  at  the  central  control  stations  de- 
signed to  show  the  status,  by  districts,  of  each  tractor 
and  of  each  car — the  number  loaded  and  empty  and  the 
number  working  or  idle.  For  each  tractor  or  car  there 
is  a  perforated  metal  disk,  numbered,  and,  in  the  case  of 
the  cars,  painted  in  two  colors,  red  signifying  loaded,  and 
green  empty.  The  locomotive  and  tractor  disks  are  hung 
on  hooks  under  three  classifications :  "Working,"  "spare" 


FIGS.   12,   13  AND   14.      THESE 

FORMS  TRACE   EACH  TRAIN 

AND  EACH  OF  ITS  CARS 


FIG.      15.       THIS     FORM     OF 

TRAIN    SHEET    IS    KEPT    BY 

THE     AMERICAN     RAILWAY 

DETACHMENTS 


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47 


and  "under  repairs,"  assigned  properly  to  their  districts. 
A  similar  scheme  of  metal  checks  and  hooks  is  employed 
for  the  cars,  the  classifications  being  "on  hand,"  "loaded," 
"empty,"  "in  transit"  and  "demurrage."  The  American 
railway  detachments  employ  the  system  in  vogue  in  the 
British  central  and  district  control  posts,  and  in  addi- 
tion keep  a  train  sheet  (Fig.  15).  While  the  latter  is 
not  officially  recognized,  it  is  the  method  which  members 
of  the  operating  force  had  employed  on  their  own  rail- 
roads in  the  States,  and  is  kept  up  to  date  as  a  piece  of 
extra  work. 

A  very  necessary  part  of  the  control  system  is  the  tele 
phone  lines,  and  to  each  A.  D.  L.  R.  headquarters  are 
assigned  a  signal  officer  and  men  whose  job  is  to  keep  the 
wires,  switchboards  and  instruments  in  working  order. 

The  number  of  cars  per  train  varies  widely.  In  the 
rear  area  one  steam  locomotive  may  haul  on  fairly  level 
track  nine  lO-ton  cars  of  ammunition  or  12  cars  of  R.  E. 
stores.  These  loads  must  be  reduced  in  wet  weather 
As  for  the  performance  of  light  railways  in  carrying 
troops,  one  British  officer  told  me  that  in  his  army  zone 
alone  as  many  as  160,000  had  been  carried,  in  one  day. 


As  an  indication  of  the  relative  amounts  of  the  various 
materials  which  the  light  railways  haul,  the  following 
figures,  representing  a  month's  traffic  on  a  certain 
section  of  line  operated  by  American  troops,  is  of  inter- 
est, although  I  do  not  know  whether  these  figures  could 
be  considered  typical,  for  they  are  now  several  months 
old:  Ammunition,  4522  tons;  rations,  6284  tons;  per- 
sonnel, 3281  tons;  light-railway  ballast,  7277  tons;  sal- 
vage, 4144  tons;  miscellaneous,  6992;  total,  32,500  tons. 

I  am,  of  course,  not  at  liberty  to  state  the  tonnage 
carried  by  the  British  light  railway  system,  the  figures 
for  which  I  saw,  among  other  records,  at  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  Director  General  of  Transportation,  but  in 
lieu  of  something  specific  this  observation  is  pertinent: 
During  the  course  of  my  trip  over  a  good  many  hundreds 
of  miles  of  highway,  the  routes  were  unobstructed  and 
I  noted  scores  of  empty  motor  trucks,  parked  and  idle 
along  the  roadsides  and  in  adjoining  fields,  both  by  day 
and  by  night.  They  told  a  silent,  though  none  the  less 
convincing,  story  of  the  work  the  light  railways  have 
done  in  the  relief  of  traffic  congestion  behind  the 
British  front. 


[     48     ] 


Engineers  Convert  French  Beet-Sugar  Fields 
Into  Advance  Depot 

Build  Railway  Receiving  and  Classification  Yards,  Nineteen  Warehouses  and  Balloon  Shed — Regulating 
Officer  Controls  Train  Movement  To  and  From  the  Battlefront 


By  Robert 

War    Correspondent, 


K.  ToMLiN,  Jr. 

Engineering   News-Record 


All   Photographs    by    Engineering 

NINETEEN  warehouses,  each  50  x  500  ft.,  railway 
receiving  and  classification  yards  with  50  miles  of 
track  laid  and  50  miles  more  yet  to  be  placed,  two  steel 
ordnance  structures  which  sprawl  over  about  seven 
acres  of  land,  a  big  balloon  shed  180  x  100  ft.  in  plan, 
scores  of  smaller  wooden  buildings  serving  as  barracks 
for  troops — this  is  an  advance  depot  and  regulating 
station  for  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  as  I 
saw  it  during  a  recent  tour  of  the  places  in  France 
where  our  engineer  regiments  have  been  at  work. 
American  construction  genius  has  taken  a  string  of 
beet-sugar  fields  and  in  only  a  few  months'  time,  has 
converted  them  into  one  of  the  most  important  railway 
and  freight-handling  centers  in  France. 

An  advance  depot  contains,  in  effect,  the  pulse  of  the 
great  arterial  system  of  army  traffic  whose  heart  is  at 
our  army's  docking  basins  and  railway  yards  on  the 
coast  of  France,  for  through  it  passes  the  daily  flow  of 
food,  ammunition  supplies  and  men  on  their  way  to  the 
front.  Much  of  our  engineering  work  over  here  has, 
until  recently,  been  on  paper  or  in  the  early  stages  of 
construction,  but  now  we  have  begun  to  strike  our 
stride,  and  things  are  moving  rapidly.  This  advance 
depot  is  already  a  going  concern.     "It  is  a  job  125% 

completed,"  said  Colonel  B ,  the  commanding  officer 

of  the  engineer  troops  which  did  the  bulk  of  the  con- 
struction work,  when  I  called  at  his  headquarters  re- 
cently. He  went  on  to  explain  how  the  original  plans 
have  been  expanded  to  one-quarter  more  than  the  size 
contemplated  when  the  job 
was  begun,  and  how  new  proj- 
ects for  a  big  bakery,  a  power, 
plant  and  acres  of  additional 
covered  storage  space  prom- 
ised tc  dwarf  the  volume  of 
work  as  first  laid  out.  Look 
at  a  map  of  France  and 
see  that  the  front  north  of 
Toul,  which  the  first  official 
announcement  stated  was  be- 
ing occupied  by  American 
troops,  is  something  like  400 
miles,  in  a  straight  line,  from 
the  coast.  By  the  railroad 
routes  over  which  supplies 
must  be  carried  the  distance  is 
somewhat  greater.  In  these 
traffic  chains  which  connect 
our  seaport  terminals  and 
front-line  trenches  there  are 
three  master  links — the  so- 
called  base,  intermediate  and 
advance  depots.    At  the  base 


News-Record    War    Correspondent. 

depot,  I  was  informed,  there  must  always  be  on  hand, 
as  a  minimum,  army  supplies  of  all  kinds  for  a 
long  period.  The  intermediate  depot  is  a  supply  station 
for  a  shorter  period,  while  at  the  advance  depot  sup- 
plies for  a  still  shorter  period  must  be  held  in  reserve. 
The  names  of  the  depots  indicate  their  relative  posi- 
tions in  the  scheme  of  transport  and  storage.  If,  for 
example,  something  should  go  wrong  at  a  base  or  inter- 
mediate depot,  or  on  the  railway  lines  running  to  the 
advance  section,  the  advance  depot  could  continue  mak- 
ing deliveries  of  all  essentials  to  combat  troops  for  a 
considerable  period.  Likewise  an  accident  at  the  ad- 
vance depot — a  big  fire,  or  damage  by  an  air  raid,  for 
instance — would  not  stop  the  flow  of  material  to  the 
front,  as  the  intermediate  depot  reserve  would  immedi- 
ately be  drawn  upon. 

The  scheme  is  almost  exactly  the  same  as  is  followed 
in  the  design  of  large  water-works  systems.  For  ex- 
ample, in  the  Catskill  Aqueduct  system  for  New  York 
City's  water-supply,  we  have  the  big  Ashokan  reser- 
voir, or  base  depot,  at  the  end  of  the  line  farthest  from 
the  ultimate  consumer.  Then,  the  Kensico  reservoir,  or 
intermediate  depot,  near  the  city,  and  finally  the  Hill- 
view  reservoir,  corresponding  to  the  advance  depot  or 
regulating  station,  close  to  the  city  limits.  It  is  with 
the  advance  depot  that  this  article  will  deal. 

In  place  of  a  plan  showing  the  relations  of  the  rail- 
way yards  and  warehouses  to  each  other,  which,  of 
course,  cannot  be  published  under  present  conditions, 


THE   NINETEEN  WAREHOUSES  ARE  EACH   500   x   250   FEET  IN  PLAN  AND  ARE 
ARRANGED  IN  SIX  PARALLEL  ROWS 


[     49     ] 


B. 


AFTER  THE  WOODEN  FRAMEWORK  WAS  SET  UP  THE  BUILDINGS  WERE 
SHEATHED  AND  ROOFED  WITH  CORRUGATED  IRON 


I  must  give  only  a  rather  vague  outline  of  the  layout. 
The  storehouses  are  arranged  in  six  parallel  rcws,  run- 
ning north  and  south,  one  of  these  rows,  half  a  mile 
long,  comprising  five  of  the  50  x  500-ft.  standard  struc- 
tures. There  are  two  aisles  for  open  storage  between 
the  lines  of  buildings  and  a  third  larger  open  storage 
space  to  the  east  of  the  last  line  of  warehouses.  Along 
the  sides  of  the  warehouses  run  platforms  flanked  by 
lines  of  depressed  track  on  bclh  the  incoming  and  out- 
going sides,  as  shown  in  the  photographs.  The  ware- 
house structures  are  of  extremely  simple  design,  having 
wood  frames  sheathed  with  corrugated  iron  sheets.  The 
floors  are  of  earth.  The  several  rows  of  buildings  are 
connected  at  intervals  by  wooden  drawbridges  to  per- 
mit the  handling  of  freight  across  the  railway  tracks. 
There  are  in  all  14  lines  of  railway  track,  such  as  that 
shown  in  Photographs  A  and  B,  serving  the  warehouses 
and  uncovered  storage  strips. 

South  of  the  warehouse  group  are  the  main-liiie  tracks 
of  a  French  railway  from  which  connections  have  been 
made  to  the  new  receiving  and  classification  yards 
(Photograph  C),  which  American  engineer  troops  have 
built  to  the  west  of  the  warehouses.  Some  distance  to 
the  north  of  the  yards  are  the  buildings  of  the  engi- 
neer's camp  and  the  headquarters  of  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  advance  depot,  while  the  two  ordnance 
buildings  and  balloon  shed  (Photograph  D),  previously 
noted,  are  at  the  southeast  end  of  the  warehouse  site. 

When  the  engineer  regiment 
arrived  at  the  site  of  this  ad- 
vance depot  last  October  it  be- 
gan work  on  the  receiving  and 
classification  yards  and  the  di- 
version of  about  1^  miles  of 
existing  double-track  French 
railroad,  which,  to  accommo- 
date the  new  yard  layout 
planned,  had  to  be  moved  lat- 
erally about  400  ft.  This  job 
required  the  removal  of  about 
30,000  cu.yd.  of  rock  by  hand- 
drilling  and  blasting,  as  prac- 
tically no  mechanical  equip- 
ment was  then  available.  In 
fact,  in  the  early  days  the  en- 


gineers made  most  of  their 
own  tools.  About  200,000  cu, 
yd.  of  earth  were  removed  by 
hand-labor  methods  before 
horse-drawn  scrapers  arrived. 
On  the  railway  yard  work 
the  American  engineers  were 
assisted  by  a  French  engi- 
neer company.  For  the  160 
kilometers  of  track  in  the 
yards,  of  which  about  70 
km,  have  been  laid,  120  km. 
of  rails  were  received  from 
the  United  States  and  40 
km.  have  been  borrowed 
from  the  French.  For  the 
first  unit  of  the  depot  it 
was  necessary  to  provide  700,- 
000  sq.ft.  of  covered  storage 
and  3,250;000  sq.ft.  of  uncovered  storage.  One  of 
the  men  of  the  American  engineer  regiment  had  for- 
merly been  connected  with  a  large  building  construction 
company  in  the  United  States,  and  his  experience  was 
used  to  good  advantage  in  organizing  and  directing  the 
work.  It  was  not  until  the  job  was  in  full  swing,  how- 
ever, that  the  engineer  troops  began  to  think  about  bar- 
rack buildings  for  themselves.  Up  to  Jan.  20  they  lived 
in  canvas  tents.  After  that  date,  however,  wooden  bar- 
rack structures  were  set  up,  a  water-supply  system  and 
two  electric  lighting  plants  were  installed.  In  addition, 
a  number  of  miscellaneous  jobs  were  handled — the  plac- 
ing of  plumbing  fixtures  in  nearby  hospitals,  the  build- 
ing of  a  medical  laboratory,  and  an  extra  job  involving 
camouflage  warehouses  and  painting  shed. 

In  connection  with  the  latter  job  this  incident  is  re- 
lated: The  officer  who  wanted  the  work  done — it  con- 
sisted of  two  50  X  250  ft.  warehouses  and  a  50  x  250  ft. 

painting  shed — went  to  Colonel  B ,  of  the  engineers,. 

to  explain  his  needs.  The  colonel  agreed  to  help  him. 
In  concluding  his  interview  the  camouflage  officer  said, 
"Colonel,  we  would  like  to  keep  posted  regarding  the 
headway  your  men  are  making.    If  convenient,  I  should 

like  to  receive  monthly  progress  reports."  Colonel  B ,. 

whose  men  had  become  adept  at  just  this  kind  of  work 
as  the  result  lof  their  experience  on  the  depot  warehouse 
sheds,  smiled  inwaVdly  in  acceding  to  this  request.  He 
set  his  men  to  work  on  Monday  morning  and  the  build- 


c. 


THE  RAILWAY   RECEIVING   AND   CLASSIFICATION   YARDS  ARE  THE 
WORK  OF  AMERICAN   ENGINEERS 

[     50    ] 


D. 


ings  were  completed  on  Thursday  of  the  same  week. 
The  camouflage  officer  is  still  waiting  for  his  "monthly" 
progress  reports. 

On  the  long  warehouses  for  the  depot,  500  x  50  ft.,  the 
normal  time  for  completing  one  building  was  four  days. 
Much  of  the  timber  employed  on  this  construction  was 
the  product  of  American  forestry  companies  which  are 
now  operating  in  France.  There  was  nothing  elaborate 
about  the  job.  It  was  just  a  case  of  putting  in  the  base 
blocks,  erecting  the  timber  frames,  sheathing  the  sides 
and  putting  on  the  roof.  Later,  sheets  of  corrugated 
iron  were  used  to  cover  both 
the  roof  and  the  sides. 

After  my  talk  with  Colonel 

B of  the  engineers  I  met 

the  commanding  officer  of  the 
advance  depot,  who  has  super- 
vision of  all  activities  at  this 
site;  the  regulating  officer, 
whose  exacting  duty  is  the 
control  of  all  train  move- 
ments, and  the  chief  supply 
officer  in  charge  of  the  load- 
quartermaster  department 
ing,  unloading  and  storage  of 
supplies.  "Our  job,"  the  regu- 
lating officer  explained,  "boils 
down  to  this :  It  is  to  keep  the 
fellows  up  at  the  front  who 
are  doing  the  fighting  from 
worrying  about  regular  de- 
liveries of  food,  forage,  ma- 
terial and  ammunition.  No  matter  what  happens,  we've 
got  to  get  the  supplies  there  and  get  them  there  on  time." 

No  one  can  go  through  the  advance  depot  and  watch 
the  machinery  of  transportation  and  storage  at  work 
without  realizing  that  the  depot  commandant,  the  regu- 
lating officer,  and  the  supply  officer  have  a  man's  size 
job  on  their  hands.  For  each  combat  organization  there 
is  a  rail-head  in  the  advance  zone  where  supplies  from 
the  advance  depot  are  delivered.  From  the  rail-head 
the  army  field  unit,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  responsible 
for  getting  the  material  to  filling  points,  and  thence  to 
the  troops,  and  for  this  purpose  a  division,  for  example, 
operates  its  own  supply  trains,  which  may  be  in  the 
form  of  motor  trucks,  horse-drawn  wagons,  light  rail- 
ways, etc.  At  the  rail-heads  small  reserve  stocks  of 
supplies  and  food  are  maintained  to  tide  over  the  non- 
arrival  of  a  train  from  the  advance  depot. 

But  the  regulating  officer's  duties  do  not  stop  with  the 
transportation  of  supplies  and  ammunition.  He  must 
provide  facilities  for  large-scale  troop  movements  and 
the  delivery  of  the  wounded  from  the  front  to  base  hos- 
pitals. The  regulating  officer,  therefore,  must  keep  in 
close  touch  with  all  army  activities,  not  only  at  the 
front,  but  at  the  ports.  For  example,  he  must  know  the 
date  of  arrival  of  all  troopships  and  supply  transports, 
the  character  and  quantity  of  their  cargoes,  the  amount 
of  material  on  hand  at  the  base  and  intermediate  de- 
pots, the  number  of  combat  troops  and  their  bcation  at 
the  front  or  in  the  advance  zone,  the  number  of  empty 
beds  at  each  base  hospital,  the  intended  movement  of 
forces  from  one  sector  to  another,  and  scores  of  similar 
data  of  the  m.ost  confidential  nature.    He  is  one  of  the 


few  men  in  France  who  know  the  total  resouiccs  in  me.i 
and  material  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces. 

From  the  very  nature  of  the  war-time  transport  prob- 
lem, the  mechanism  of  the  advance  depot  must  combine 
properties  of  great  strength  and  elasticity  with  the  ca- 
pacity for  sudden  and  tremendous  expansion.  Even 
when  conditions  at  the  front  are  quiet  the  receipt  and 
transmission  of  supplies  and  personnel  on  regular  sched- 
ule make  exactnor  denands  on  the  organization  respons- 
ible for  this  servics.  Nevertheless,  the  wires  at  any 
time  may  bring  in  word  of  some  big  activity  at  the  front. 


THE  ENGINEER  REGIMENT,   ORGANIZED      PRIMARILY  FOR  RAILWAY 
MAINTENANCE,   BUILDS  A  BALLOON  SHED 

Troops  must  be  shifted  from  one  point  to  another,  the 
supply  of  ammunition  speeded  up,  supplies  diverted 
from  their  regular  channels,  the  wounded  carried  back. 
These  are  the  times  when  the  advance  depot  must  work 
at  a  tremendous  overload  and  it  must  stand  up  under 
the  strain — a  strain  not  applied  gradually  but  with  the 
force  of  impact.  In  such  circumstances,  the  clamor  for 
railway  transportation  comes  in  to  the  advance  depot 
from  all  sides,  and  the  depot  commandant,  the  regulat- 
ing officer,  the  supply  officer  and  the  rest  of  the  staff 
must  keep  clear  heads  and  assume  the  functions  of  a 
priority  board  in  the  allotment  of  engines  and  cars  and 
supplies. 

In  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  however,  the  supplies 
go  forward  in  what  are  known  as  automatic  shipments. 
For  example,  a  certain  number  of  men  served  by  a 
certain  rail-head  mean  so  many  pounds  of  meat,  bread, 
vegetables,  etc.,  every  day,  and  a  routine  schedule  of 
shipments  can  be  foreseen  and  established  until  there 
occurs  a  large-scale  movement  of  troops.  By  keeping 
a  close  check  on  the  stock  on  hand  at  the  advance  depot, 
the  amounts  available  at  the  intermediate  and  base  de- 
pots, and  the  daily  requirements  of  the  troops  in  the 
advance  zone,  it  is  possible  for  the  regulating  officer  to 
exercise  a  judicious  control  over  the  movement  of  trains 
and  material.  Even  now,  with  American  man-power 
here  in  France  far  below  what  it  will  be  ultimately,  the 
advance  depot  is  handling  every  month  something  like 
20,000  cars  (this  number  including  cars  arriving,  de- 
parting, rebilled,  loaded  or  unloaded) — and  this  volume 
of  business,  I  may  state,  is  based  on  data  obtained  be- 
fore the  German  drive  developed  its  present  proportions. 
[     51     ] 


E.     HOW  ONE  OF  THE  STEEi^-FllAME  ORDNANCE  BUILDINGS,  THE  MACHINE  SHOP,  LOOKED  O. 


Everything-  from  the  rear  en  route  for  the  front  must 
pass  through  the  advance  depot.  Of  course,  in  the  case 
of  supplies,  not  every  car  is  unloaded.  Sometimes  it  suf- 
fices merely  to  rebill  a  car  and  send  it  forward.  But 
with  the  depot  authorities  rests  the  decision  as  to 
whether  a  shipment  shall  be  allowed  to  go  onward  or 
shall  be  held  for  storage.  In  the  conduct  of  this  work 
the  regulating  officer  receives  and  transmits  several 
hundred  telegrams  daily,  to  say  nothing  of  telephone 
messages  in  equal  numbers. 

In  the  case  of  troop  movements  the  regulating  officer 


WIRE  GLASS  REPLACES  CHEESECLOTH  IN  THE 
ORDNANCE    BUILDING    MONITORS 


receives  by  wire  a  statement  as  to  the  number  of  men, 
animals  and  tonnage  of  material,  their  present  location 
and  their  ultimate  destination.  It  is  then  up  to  him  to 
get  them  there.  At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  the  advance 
depot  the  regulating  officer  told  me  that  food  and  cloth- 
ing constituted  the  bulk  of  the  tonnage  which  he  was 
moving  for  the  American  forces.  Ammunition,  .  of 
course,  varies  from  week  to  week  according  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  activity  in  the  battle  area.  At  every  rail- 
head the  regulating  officer  has  representatives,  and 
every  train  that  leaves  the  depot  for  the  front  carries 
a  representative  whose  duty  is  to  see  that  the  train  ar- 
rives at  its  proper  destination. 

The  actual  loading  and  unloading  of  cars  and  the 
storage  of  supplies  is  under  the  direction  of  representa- 
tives of  the  quartermaster  department,  engineer  corps, 
signal  corps,  medical  corps,  etc.,  each  department  having 
a  certain  number  of  warehouses  assigned  to  it.  The 
quartermaster  stores  form  the  largest  bulk  of  freight 
handled  by  the  depot.  They  include  everything  in  the 
way  of  food,  fuel,  forage,  and  wearing  apparel,  and  a 
good  many  miscellaneous  side  lines.  The  captain  in 
charge  of  the  quartermaster  stores,  who  conducted  me 
through  his  string  of  warehouses,  receives  daily  from 
the  regulating  officer  figures  indicating  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  forces  in  the  advance  zone.  Adhering 
to  certain  prescribed  limits  for  the  Army  ration,  the 
warehouse  officer  loads  cars  with  the  proper  quantity  of 
supplies  for  the  men,  and  forage  for  the  animals. 

To  simplify  this  task,  each  warehouse  is  marked  off 
in  certain  lengths  for  different  kinds  of  supplies.  Start- 
ing at  one  end,  for  example,  there  will  be  a  section  for 
flour,  next  a  section  for  baked  beans,  and  succeeding 
sections  for  tobacco,  jam,  etc.  Other  warehouses,  are 
similarly  apportioned,  there  being  sections  for  over- 
coats, shoes,  socks,  underclothing,  etc. 

In  the  storage  scheme  the  total  supply  of  one  kind  of 
material  is  not  put  under  one  roof,  but  is  distributed 
among  several  warehouses.  Thus,  in  case  of  fire,  or 
bombing  by  airplane,  damage  to  one  warehouse  unit 
would  have  no  appreciable  effect  on  the  continuity  of 
dispatching  supplies  from  the  others. 
52     ]     * 


In  the  loading  and  unloading  of  cars,  sections  of  ball- 
bearing roller  tracks  are  largely  used.  Boxes  and  crates 
are  thrown  on  the  roller  track,  shoved  along  the  ware- 
house platforms,  and  removed  at  the  proper  places  for 
car  loading  or  storage.  A  box  car  containing  570  cases 
of  baked  beans  was  unloaded,  delivered  into  the  ware- 
house and  stacked  by  three  men  in  1  hour  35  minutes. 
Both  for  incoming  and  outgoing  material  a  checker  is 
stationed  in  each  car  and  on  each  warehouse  stack. 


Si^ice  that  time  there  have  been  a  number  of  impor- 
tant changes  affecting  this  work.  In  the  first  place,  no 
such  extensive  layout  of  buildings  at  a  single  site,  as 
was  originally  planned,  has  been  carried  out.  Instead, 
a  few  units  are  being  built  at  one  place,  a  few  more  at 
another,  splitting  the  job  up.  Then,  too,  in  the  actual 
construction,  there  has  been  a  change  from  the  original 
policy.  The  firm  of  Stone  &  Webster,  which  designed 
the  ordnance  base  structures,  was  to  have  handled  the 


G. 


INTERIOR  OP  FINISHED  ORDNANCE  STORAGE  BUILDING — COLUMNS  SUPPORTED  ON  CONCRETE  FOOTINGS  OP 
DIFFERENT  HEIGHTS   TO   GIVE   SLOPE   TO   ROOF.   SINCE   ALL  COLUMNS  ARE  OF  SAME  LENGTH 


Records  are  kept  to  show  output,  input  and  the  amount 
of  supplies  that  is  on  hand  in  the  advance  depot. 

After  making  the  tour  of  the  sustenance  and  clothing 
warehouses,  I  examined  the  medical  stores  and,  finally, 
the  engineer  supplies.  The  latter  were  all  grouped  by 
sections,  and  among  the  things  I  noted  were  stacks  of 
chicken  wire,  shovels,  wheelbarrows,  mining  timber, 
trench  flooring,  water  pipe,  demountable  barracks  build- 
ings, wire  rope,  hemp  rope,  carpenters'  tools,  saws,  a 
few  electric  generators,  water  tanks,  etc. 

In  contrast  to  the  wood  frame  warehouses,  with  cor- 
rugated iron  siding,  which  are  such  a  prominent  feature 
of  the  advance  depot,  are  the  two  large  steel-frame 
structures  for  the  Ordnance  Department.  One,  500  x 
240  ft.  in  plan,  which  is  practically  finished,  is  serving 
as  a  storehouse  for  ordnance  material,  while  the  other, 
240  x  260  ft.,  which  may  later  be  expanded  to  the  size 
of  the  first,  is  still  in  course  of  construction,  as  shown 
in  Photograph  E.  It  will  be  used  as  a  machine  shop 
and  repair  plant.  Both  of  these  buildings  are  part  of 
the  big  ordnance  building  project  which  was  described 
in  Engineering  News-Record  of  Jan.  3,  page  23. 

[ 


construction  work  also.  A  number  of  their  men  were 
sent  to  France  early  this  year,  and  when  a  final  decision 
had  been  reached  regarding  the  sites  of  the  buildings, 
the  job  was  started  by  them.  However,  the  Army  has 
now  concluded  to  complete  the  ordnance  building  pl-oject 
with  its  own  personnel,  and  at  the  time  of  my  visit  re- 
lations with  the  Stone  &  Webster  organization  had  been 
practically  terminated. 

The  storage  building,  or  larger  of  the  two  units,  was 
started  with  Stone  &  Webster  foremen  and  a  detail 
of  65  men  from  the  i-anks  of  the  ordnance  service,  while 
the  machine  shop  structure,  now  under  construction,  is 
being  built  by  a  detail  of  infantry — about  100  men — 
under  the  direction  of  an  ordnance  captain.  The  en- 
gineer company  which  built  the  warehouses  and  yards 
at  the  advance  depot  assisted  in  the  ordnance  work  by 
making  a  4-ft.  earth  fill  covered  by  a  3-in.  layer  of 
gravel  to  form  the  floor  of  the  storage  building. 

The  buildings  are  of  simple  design — light  steel  mem- 
bers with  corrugated  iron  siding.  Bolted  connections  are 
used  throughout,  and  all  columns  are  of  one  length,  the 
roof  slope  being  secured  by  carrying  the  concrete  footings 

53     ] 


for  the  columns  to  different  elevations  (Photograph  G). 
Bays  are  spaced  20  ft.  apart  along  the  longitudinal  axis 
of  the  building.  On  the  erection  work  the  practice  orig- 
inally was  to  handle  the  steel  members  singly.  Later, 
however,  a  steel  column  and  rafter  were  bolted  up  on 
the  ground  and  raised  by  a  gin-pole  in  a  single  opera- 
tion. The  purlins,  however,  were  all  raised  by  hand. 
The  progress  on  the  500  x  240  ft.  storage  building  was 
as  follows :  Footings  completed  Dec.  6,  1917 ;  first  steel 
column  erected  Oec.  29;  all  columns,  rafters  and  girders 
placed  Jan.  10. 

For  the  roof  the  original  plans  contemplated  a  thin 
concrete  cover  over  corrugated  iron.  This  scheme  had 
to  be  abandoned  because  of  lack  of  concrete  materials; 
two  layers  of  felt  and  a  layer  of  roofing  paper  were  sub- 
stituted. Until  very  recently  the  roof  monitors  were 
"glazed"  with  strips  of  cheesecloth.  Now,  however,  a 
shipment  of  wire-glass  has  been  received  and  has  been 
substituted  for  the  cheesecloth  windows  as  shown  in 
Photograph  F. 

The  machine  shop  building,  unlike  the  one  for  storage, 
is  to  have  a  concrete  floor.  When  I  inspected  the  work 
going  on  one  mixer  was  delivering  the  concrete  into  or- 
dinary wheelbarrows  which  were  moved  along  plank 
runways  to  points  of  deposit  on  the  floor.  The  progress 
of  the  machine  shop  structure  is  shown  in  Photograph 
E,  which  I  took  Apr.  5. 

The  construction  was  done  under  the  usual  conditions 
which  affected  most  of  our  early  engineering  work  in 
France — difficulties  of  transport,  scarcity  of  mechanical 
plant  and  shortage  of  labor.  Added  to  these  was  the 
fact  the  job  had  to  proceed  in  spite  of  alternate  periods 
of  extremely  cold  weather  and  rain.  For  one  week  the 
mercury  remained  at  zero  (Fahr.)  and  made  it  hard 
for  the  men  who  had  to  handle  the  steel  columns,  rafters 


and  girders.  Holes  worn  in  their  gloves  allowed  the 
skin  of  their  hands  to  come  in  contact  with  the  cold 
steel,  where  it  stuck  fast  and  was  torn  off  in  patches. 
Then,  in  the  rainy  periods,  the  fields  would  become  vast 
seas  of  mud,  and  in  walking  through  this  tenacious  ma- 
terial it  was  difficult  for  a  man  to  keep  a  pair  of  rubber 
boots  on.  The  "office,"  where  the  administrative  end  of 
the  job  was  handled,  was  opened  up  in  midwinter,  and 
consisted  of  a  canvas  tent  lighted  by  a  candle.  Due  to 
the  nonarrival  of  clips  for  attaching  the  corrugated 
siding  to  the  steel  framework,  a  detail  of  men  was  as- 
signed the  job  of  rounding  up  a  supply  of  wire  for  this 
purpose.  As  a  result,  much  of  the  corrugated  iron  sid- 
ing is  now  held  in  place  by  scraps  of  wire  taken  from 
old  crates  and  boxes  and  other  odd  sources.  A  single 
small  auto  was  the  sole  means  of  delivering  food  from  a 
town  a  couple  of  miles  distant.  Then,  too,  few  of  the 
men  from  the  ranks  of  the  Army  had  had  any  previous 
experience  in  construction  work  of  this  sort,  but  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  designers  of  the  buildings  had  made 
the  work  as  nearly  fool-proof  as  possible,  foreseeing  the 
contingency  of  erection  by  unskilled  labor — no  serious 
trouble  was  experienced  on  the  erection  work.  The 
officer  in  charge  of  the  job,  appreciating  the  trying 
conditions  under  which  his  men  were  working,  took 
special  pains  to  have  them  supplied  with  plenty  of  warm 
clothing  and  good  food,  and  this  policy  was  a  big  factor 
in  maintaining  the  morale  of  the  force.  By  the  time 
this  appears  in  print  the  job  will  probably  have  been 
finished.  What  these  words  mean  can  be  appreciated 
only  by  those  who  know  of  the  game  fight  that  has  been 
carried  on  in  midwinter  by  the  ordnance  captain  and 
his  men,  not  in  the  front  line  trenches,  but  in  the  mud 
and  snow  of  those  beet-sugar  fields  which  are  now  the 
advance  depot. 


<[    54    ] 


FIG.   1.     HEAVY  TYPE  OP  PORTABLE   STEEL.  BRIDGE — RESEMBLES  LIGHTER  STRUCTURE  SHOWN  IN  FIGS.   5  TO  11 

Army  Engineer  School  in  France  Standardizes 

Work  in  the  Field 

Gives  Courses  of  Training  to  Men  Recommended  for  Commissions — Operations  Conducted  Mostly  in  the 
Open — Classes  Trained  in  Mining,  Pioneering,  Bridging,  Topography,  Camouflage,  Sound  Ranging  and 
Interpretation    of    Aerial   Photographs — Model    Battle    Sector    Laid    Out    and    Completely    Equipped 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 
All  Photos  by  Engineering  News-Record 


TO  SUBSTITUTE  standardization  for  improvisation 
in  the  conduct  of  military  engineering  operations, 
in  both  field  and  office,  and  to  give  the  man  in  the  ranks 
an  opportunity  of  becoming  a  commissioned  officer,  are 
the  two  main  objects  of  the  Army  engineer  school  of 
the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  in  France,  which 
was  formally  inaugurated  Apr.  1  with  a  class  of  110  en- 
listed men  from  various  technical  units.  This  school  is, 
in  effect,  a  super-Plattsburg,  where  facilities  for  in- 
structing our  men  in  the  latest  phases  of  military  engi- 
neering practice  are  being  mobilized. 

The  need  for  such  training  is  great,  for  many  of  the 
standards  of  practice  laid  down  in  former  engineering 
field  manuals  have  either  become  entirely  obsolete  or 
need  substantial  revision  to  bring  them  up  to  date;  and, 
in  addition,  there  is  a  host  of  new  phases  of  the  work  of 
the  engineer  under  the  conditions  of  modern  warfare. 
For  example,  the  latest  methods  in  the  erection  of 
barbed  wire  entanglements,  the  location  and  construc- 
tion of  treflches,  the  excavation  of  dugouts  by  rock  tun- 
neling, the  interpretation  of  aerial  photographs,  the 
registering  of  enemy  batteries  by  sound  and  flash 
ranging,  the  detection  of  enemy  sapping  operations  by 
microphone,  the  rapid  assembly  and  launching  of  new 
types  of  bridges,  measures  for  gas  offense  and  defense, 
the  location  and  protection  of  machine-gun  emplace- 
ments, the  camouflaging  of  gun  positions — these  and 
scores  of  other  subjects  go  to  make  up  the  curriculum  of 
our  newly  established  overseas  eng'ineer  school. 

[ 


Where  training  camps  in  the  United  States  gave 
candidates  for  engineer  commissions  a  grounding  in  the 
duties  of  the  engineer  service,  the  work  at  the  school 
here  on  French  soil  begins  where  the  others  terminate, 
corresponding  to  a  postgraduate  course  for  commis- 
sioned officers  and  an  intensive  period  of  instruction  for 
noncommissioned  officers  aspiring  to  higher  rank.  Just 
as  the  air-pilot  candidate  who  has  become  proficient  in 
straight  flying  must  master  the  "circus  stunts"  which 
are  an  essential  part  of  modern  aerial  combat,  so  must 
the  Army  engineer's  education  be  topped  off  with  a 
course  in  the  less  sensational,  but  equally  specialized, 
phases  of  the  new  military  engineering  which  the  war 
has  developed. 

How  Courses  Are  Conducted 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  present  at  the  opening 
.  of  the  American  Army  Engineer  School  over  here  and 
spend  the  day  in  an  inspection  trip  with  its  command- 
ant, a  colonel  of  engineers  well  known  readers  of  this 
journal  by  reason  of  his  series  of  articles  on  the  engi- 
neer in  war  which  appeared  in  Engineering  Record 
about  two  years  ago.  I  say  "an  inspection  trip,"  for  the 
school's  work  is  not  all  done  within  the  four  walls  of 
the  classroom  which  we  generally  associate  with  the 
word  "school."  This  engineer  school  conducts  the 
greater  part  of  its  operations  in  the  open,  by  means  of 
practical  demonstrations,  and  to  cover  its  field  of  activi- 
ties Colonel  B and  I  started  out  in  the  morning  and 

55     ]  - 


traveled  over  many  miles  of  French  highway  by  auto- 
mobile before  we  got  back  to  his  headquarters  late  that 
afternoon.  Of  course,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  class- 
room work  and  lectures  are  omitted  from  the  curric- 
ulum. The  indoor  work  is  an  important  part  of  the 
course,  for,  in  addition  to  lectures  by  our  own  officers, 
candidates  have  the  opportunity  of  attending  conferences 
conducted  by  specially  selected  men  from  the  forces  of 
our  allies,  so  that  the  experiences  of  those  who  have  been 
playing  the  war  game  for  a  longer  period  than  we  have 
are  made  available  for  our  use. 

Training  Covers  Many  Specialties 

The  school  of  "military  engineering"  is  department- 
alized under  three  main  subdivisions,  as  follows:  (1) 
mining;  (2)  pioneering  and  (3)  bridging.  Closely  allied 
with  the  so-called  military  engineering  courses  are  six 
others  covering  the  fields  of  camouflage,  flash  and  sound 
ranging,  topography,  mapmaking  and  the  interpreta- 
ion  of  aerial  photographs;  orientation  (artillery)  and, 
finally,  gas  attack  and  defense.  From  the  nature  of 
things  and  the  constantly  increasing  number  of  Ameri- 
can troops  in  France,  it  is  not  possible  to  give  every 
officer  a  course  at  the  engineer  school.  Nevertheless, 
selected  men  are  sent  to  the  school  for  a  period  of  train- 
ing and  are  then  available  as  instructors  either  in  the 
corps  schools  or  in  their  own  organizations,  to  pass 
along  to  their  fellow  officers  the  knowledge  they  have 
acquired.    This  applies  to  the  men  with  commissions  now. 

In  the  case  of  the  man  in  the  ranks  who  is  found  de- 


serving of  promotion  the  mode  of  procedure  is  thus: 
A  regimental  commander  of  engineer  troops  is  author- 
ized to  recommend  for  promotion  a  certain  small  per- 
centage of  his  enlisted  strength.  On  reports  from  his 
battalion  and  company  commanders  he  chooses  certaini 
men,  generally  corporals  or  sergeants,  whose  work  has- 
been  of  a  high  order  and  who,  it  is  thought,  have  the 
qualifications  of  commissioned  officers.  These  specially 
recommended  men  are  then  temporarily  detached  from 
their  own  organizations  and  sent  to  the  engineer  school 
for  a  course  of  instruction.  Their  work  is  carefully 
watched,  they  receive  examinations  of  one  kind  and  an- 
other, and,  if  the  tests  are  passed  successfully,  they  re- 
ceive their  promotions.  The  future  policy,  I  was  in- 
formed, will  be  to  draw  largely  upon  the  ranks  for  all 
new  commissioned  officers  in  the  engineer  service. 

It  is  not  necessary  for  every  engineer  officer  or  candi- 
date for  a  commission  to  take  all  of  the  courses  pre- 
viously noted.  The  idea  is  to  produce  a  supply  of  spe- 
cialists for  each  branch  of  the  service.  Certain  courses, 
however,  are  obligatory,  no  matter  what  particular  duty 
is  to  be  performed  later  in  actual  field  service.  Among 
these  is  the  course  in  gas  defense.  Nowadays,  with  the 
tremendous  increase  in  the  use  of  gas  shells,  rather  than 
the  gas-cloud  form  of  attack,  regions  very  far  back  from 
the  front  lines  are  never  safe,  and  it  is  considered  ab- 
solutely necessary  that  our  engineer  officers  and  men 
be  thoroughly  versed  in  the  measures  of  gas  defense. 
All  officers  on  their  way  to  the  front,  therefore,  must 
either  pass  directly  through  the  gas  school,  or  else  re- 


FIGS.  2  TO  4.  AT  ONE  OF  THE  FIELDS 
OF  THE  ARMY  ENGINEER  SCHOOL. 
MANY  DIFFERENT  TYPES  -OF  PAR- 
TIALLY COMPLETED  WOODEN 
BRIDGES  ARE  AVAILABLE  FOR 
STUDY  BY  STUDENTS.  IN  FIG.  4 
NOTE  PARTICULARLY  THE  FORM  OB* 
ABUTMENT,  WHICH  CONSISTS  OF 
CUBES  OP  STRUCTUFIAL  STEBIi 
BUILT   UP    LIKE   BLOCKS 


[     56     ]- 


ceive  instruction  at  the  hands  of  graduates  of  the  school. 
During  the  time  of  my  visit  an  experimental  field  was 
being  prepared  for  gas  work,  both  defensive  and  offen- 
sive, to  take  the  place  of  a  wooden  gas  hut  located  in  the 
courtyard  of  the  engineer  school,  which  had  been  used 
principally  to  test  the  adjustment  of  gas  masks.  One  of 
the  chief  functions  of  the  gas  school  is  to  qualify  men 
to  act  later  in  the  capacity  of  instructors  for  their  own 
units.  For  instance,  a  group  of  prospective  division  gas 
officers  will  arrive  at  the  school,  the  commandant  having 
been  previously  directed  to  "give  them  a  week  of  gas." 
With  the  new  facilities  for  instruction  at  the  experi- 
mental gas  field,  both  this  work  and  offensive  training 
can  be  readily  handled.  The  week's  course  enables  the 
men  to  go  back  to  their  organizations  well  equipped  to 
take  charge  of  all  defensive  gas  instruction.  The  of- 
fensive course  is  longer  and  more  elaborate  and  is  not 
of  universal  application. 

Model  Battle  Sector 

In  order  to  make  the  instruction  as  practical  as  pos- 
sible a  certain  area  of  selected  ground  has  been  marked 
off  as  a  battle  sector  for  a  division,  and  is  being  de- 
veloped exactly  as  it  would  be  if  it  were  part  of  the 
front.  In  this  sector  one  sees  trenches  in  various  stages 
of  completion;  dugouts  just  begun,  with  entrances  fin- 
ished, and  finally  with  all  underground  passages  exca- 
vated; machine  gun  emplacements;  trench  mortar  bat- 
teries properly  located;  barbed  wire  entanglements  of 
several  different  types;  various  exhibitions  of  camou- 
flage work,  and  so  on  through  the  entire  category  of 
defensive  and  offensive  measures.  All  of  these  works 
represent  the  efforts  of  students  at  the  school.  How- 
ever, one  man  is  not  kept  at  trench  digging  day  after 
day.  He  puts  in  a  certain  number  of  hours,  let  us 
say,  on  excavation,  then  he  passes  along  to  the  point 
where  revetment  work  is  needed,  and  works  there 
awhile.  His  next  task  may  have  to  do  with  trench 
drainage,  and  after  that  with  barbed  wire  entangle- 
ments, and  finally  with  the  more  complex  structures, 
such  as  observation  posts,  machine  gun  emplacements, 
and  the  like.  And  so  it  is  with  the  dugouts.  Successive 
groups  of  men  each  do  a  little  work  on  each  type  of 
structure  in  each  stage  of  the  work — enough  to  familia:r- 
ize  themselves  with  the  actual  construction  methods — 
and  then  pass  on  to  something  else. 

"The  principal  idea  of  the  school,"  Colonel  B ex- 
plained, "is  to  capitalize  for  war  purposes  American 
genius  for  quantity  production.  We  have  before  us  as 
an  example  our  achievements  in  the  quantity  production 
of  automobiles.  Such  results  are  possible  only  by  stand- 
ardizing parts  and  operations.  We  are  trying  to  carry 
this  principle  into  the  work  of  the  Army  engineer 
school.  We  are  trying  to  develop  standard  methods  of 
building  trenches,  dugouts,  bridges,  machine  gun  em- 
placements and  all  of  the  other  works  needed  at  the 
front.  Of  course  I  appreciate  fully  that  many  cases 
will  arise  where  our  standards  must  be  scrapped  and 
where  we  will  have  to  improvise,  and  improvise  quickly. 
Nevertheless,  the  standards  we  are  developing  will  be 
good  at  least  seven  times  out  of  ten.  A  man  must  use 
his  own  judgment  in  departing  from  the  routine  way  of 
doing  things.  In  the  development  of  our  field  engineer- 
ing methods,  however,  we  are  combining  our  own  ideas 

[    57 


with  the  best  experience  of  our  allies,  and  are  evolving 
a  standard  practice  which  will,  I  think,  be  a  big  factor  in 
saving  time  at  the  front — and  time  is  the  all-important 
element  these  days. 

"Take  the  matter  of  dugouts  and  underground  pas- 
sages, for  example.  We  have  a  set  of  standard  casings 
or  mining  timbers  which  we  are  teaching  the  men  at  the 
school  to  use.  When  they  get  out  into  actual  service 
they  won't  have  to  spend  time  devising  a  scheme  of  tim- 
bering for  a  tunnel.  All  that  is  done  beforehand,  and 
their  job  will  be  almost  automatic,  using  the  methods 
and  material  with  which  they  have  become  familiar  here 
at  the  engineer  school.  The  same  thing  applies  to 
bridge  work  and  to  what  we  call  "pioneer'  work ;  that  is, 
trenches,  obstacles,  etc.  We  think  we  are  now  in  a  posi- 
tion to  say  what  is  the  best  way  of  doing  all  these 
things,  and  it  is  this  'best  way'  that  we  are  making 
standard  and  driving  home  to  the  men  by  means  of  our 
recitations,  demonstrations  and  actual  work  in  the  field 
by  students." 

Bridge  Built  in  Eight  Minutes 

On  the  inspection  trip  of  the  field  work  of  the  engi- 
neer school  our  first  stop  was  at  a  point  where  in- 
struction in  bridging  was  in  progress.  In  addition  to 
pontoon  bridges,  a  number  of  other  types  of  structure, 
both  wood  and  steel,  were  in  various  stages  of  comple- 
tion. There  were  the  heavy  steel  portable  bridge  made 
of  steel  tubing.  Fig.  1,  and  wooden  bridges  and  trestles 
as  shown  in  Figs.  2,  3  and  4.  In  Fig.  4  the  abutment 
should  be  particularly  noted.  It  is  made  up  of  individ- 
ual cubes  of  structural  steel  shapes  piled  one  on  top  of 
the  other  like  a  child's  building  blocks.  This  form  of 
abutment  is  of  British  origin,  as  is  also  the  demountable 
bridge  shown  in  Fig.  1.  The  bridges  in  Figs.  1  to  4,  in- 
clusive, serve  as  models  which  are  first  studied  and 
then  built  by  the  students  at  the  school. 

Following  the  same  design  as  the  bridge  in  Fig.  1  is; 
another,  much  lighter,  which  is  especially  adapted  to 
conditions  where  very  speedy  work  is  required — in 
crossing  a  river  or  canal  under  shell  fire,  for  example. 
This  is  the  light  Inglis  portable  bridge  (British) ,  which 
is  made  up  of  sections  of  drawn  or  welded  steel  tubing, 
with  special  pin-connected  joints.  The  bays  are  8  ft. 
long.  The  parts  of  this  bridge  were  placed  along  the 
ground  parallel  to  the  moat  of  an  old  French  fort  when 
we  arrived.     "If  you  want  to  see  how  we  handle  this 

work,"  said  Colonel  B ,  "I'll  have  them  set  up  this 

bridge  and  launch  it  for  you."  I  certainly  did  want 
to  see  such  an  exhibition;  so  the  colonel  summoned  the 
lieutenant  in  charge  of  a  detail  of  34  men  and  gave 
orders  for  the  erection  of  the  bridge.  I  had  my  camera 
with  me  and  the  resulting  photographs.  Figs.  5,  6,  7, 
8,  9,  10  and  11,  will  indicate  more  clearly  than  words 
what  happened. 

Just  a  few  words  of  explanation,  however,  are  neces- 
sary. The  method  is  to  erect  the  bridge  on  the  ground 
parallel  to  the  watercourse,  swing  it  around  through  an 
angle  of  90°  and  run  it  forward  as  a  cantilever  over  the 
moat.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  structure  is  mounted 
on  a  two-wheel  truck,  or  "dolly,"  which  makes  the 
launching  operation  very  simple,  and  that  the  rear  end 
where  the  men  are  assembled,  as  shown  in  Fig.  10,  is 
counterweighted.    When  the  far  end  of  the  bridge  rests 

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Building  a  Bridge  in  11 '/2  Minutes 

FIG.  5.     BEFORE  ERECTION  AND  LAUNCHING. 

PARTS      OF      THE      LIGHT       PORTABLE 

BRIDGE   ARH   LAID    OUT   ON   THE 

GROUND  PARALLEL  TO  LINE 

OF    STREAM    TO    BE 

CROSSED 

FIG.     6.      AT     ORDERS     PROM     COMMANDING 

OFFICERS    MEN    OF   BRIDGE   BUILDING 

COMPANY    START   THE   WORK 

OF    ERECTION 

PIG.      7.       THE      FIRST      BENT      ERECTED     AT 

ABOUT       MIDDLE       OF       STRUCTURE, 

DIRECTLY     OVER     TWO-WHEEL 

TRUCK  USED  LATER  FOR 

LAUNCHING 

FIG.     8.       BY     THIS     TIME    A     CONSIDERABLE 
LENGTH  OF  BRIDGE  HAS  BEEN  SET  UP — 
NOTE         BOTTOM-CHORD         MEMBERS 
LYING     ON     GROUND     AND     POSI- 
TION OF  JOINTS  AT   BASE  OF 
FOUR-LEGGED    SECTIONS 

FIG.  9.      FINISHING  ERECTION  OF  LAST  BENT 
— NOTE  POSITION  OF  MEN,  EACH  HAV- 
ING  SPECIFIC   PLACE  TO   OCCUPY 
AT    SPECIFIC   TIME 

PIG.    10.     ERECTION   HAS    BEEN    COMPLETED 
AND   BRIDGE   IS  BEING    SWUNG   ROUND 
AND      RUN      FORWARD      ON      TWO- 
WHEEL   TRUCK   LOCATED   JUST 
TO     LEFT     OF     OFFICER    iN 
LIGHT  RAINCOAT 

FIG.    11.     BRIDGE   LAUNCHED    ACROSS   MOAT 

OP  OLD   FRENCH   FORTRESS   AND   IN 

PLACE  ON   ITS  ABUTMENTS 


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[     58 


on  its  abutment  across  the  stream  the  dolly  is  removed, 
the  extra  bays  at  the  counterweighted  end  are  knockeii 
down,  and  tho  near  end  is  seated  on  its  abutment.  With 
these  bridges  it  is,  of  course,  the  practice,  for  the 
launching  operation,  to  construct  a  greater  length  of 
bridge  than  is  ultimately  placed  in  service.  In  the  pres- 
ent case  104  ft.  of  bridge  was  erected  to  give  an  ulti- 
mate useful  span  of  56  ft.  It  is  practicable,  however,  to 
place  the  bridge  in  position  by  means  of  a  derrick  on  the 
far  side  without  cantilevering.  This  latter  method  is 
slower  than  the  cantilever  method,  but  allows  the  launch- 
ing of  a  longer  span. 

Here  is  how  the  work  progressed  on  the  bridge  I  sav/ 
erected  and  launched:  Thirteen  bays,  each  8  ft.,  or  a 
total  of  104  ft.  of  bridge,  were  erected  in  5  min.  10 
sec.  The  launching  required  1  min.  20  sec.  The  re- 
moval of  the  "dolly"  took  50  sec.  In  4  min.  10  sec.  more 
the  counterweights  had  been  removed,  the  extra  launch- 
ing bays  had  been  knocked  down,  and  the  bridge  was 
ready  for  service.  In  other  words,  exactly  11  min.  30 
sec.  was  consumed  in  the  entire  operation. 

/  have  just  received  a  note  from  Colonel  B saying 

that  on  May  4  his  men  cut  the  time  of  this  whole  oper- 
ation to  7  min.  50  sec.  The  erection  of  the  bridge  proper 
required  only  4  min.  12  sec,  nearly  a  minute  better  than 
the  time  made  the  day  I  saw  the  bridge-building  demon- 
stration. 

64  Pounds  per  Foot  of  Span 

This  type  of  light  portable  bridge  weighs  63.75  lb. 
per  foot  of  span,  and  can  be  used  for  spans  as  great  as 
'96  ft.  when  launched  by  the  cantilever  method,  and  for 
spans  up  to  120  ft.  when  launched  by  derrick  and  tackle. 
The  flooring  consists  of  portable  wooden  sections  such  as 
those  shown  in  the  foreground  of  Figs.  6  and  10.  The 
bridge  is"  intended  primarily  for  the  use  of  troops  on 
foot,  although  horses  are  occasionally  carried  by  it.  In 
the  latter  case,  I  was  told,  the  practice  is  to  use  canvas 
sheets  stretched  on  siderails  to  cover  up  the  openings 
in  the  floor  and  sides;  otherwise  the  horses  become 
frightened  and  it  is  difficult  to  get  them  across  the 
•structure. 

The  principal  feature  of  this  portable  bridge  is  that 
it  can  be  assembled  and  launched  without  tools  of  any 
sort,  except  several  small  spanner  wrenches.  The  joints 
are  an  important  part  of  the  design  and  are  well  shown 
in  Figs  6,  7,  8  and  9.  Note  also  in  Figs.  6  and  8  the 
bottom-chord  members  lying  on  the  ground.  Their  ends 
are  held  fast,  as  are  the  ends  of  all  the  chord  and  web 
members  of  the  bridge,  when  in  position,  by  pins  which 
■extend  through  the  holes  shown.  There  is  a  steel  tongue 
welded  into  each  end  of  each  tube,  and  provided  with  a 
screw  and  nut.  To  make  the  connection,  the  nut  is  run 
back  on  the  screw,  and  the  tongue  inserted  into  the 
joint-box.  The  pin  is  passed  through  the  hole  in  the 
tongue  and  through  the  pear-shaped  slots  in  the  sides 
of  the  joint-box.  The  nut  is  then  screwed  up,  causing 
the  tongue  to  draw  out  of  the  box  until  further  move- 
ment is  resisted  by  the  pin.  To  prevent  these  pins  from 
being  lost  they  are  attached  to  the  joint  blocks  by  short 
lengths  of  chain. 

The  heaviest  single  member  of  the  bridge  proper  (ex- 
cept the  transom)  weighs  but  56  lb.  To  attain  speed 
In  the  assembling  and  launching  of  this  bridge  it  is  es- 

[     59 


sential  that  each  member  of  the  crew  have  a  specific  job 
to  perform,  and  that  the  sequence  of  operations,  by  rea- 
son of  repeated  performances,  shall  become  practically 
automatic.  The  heavy  bridge  in  Fig.  1,  which  will  carry 
the  heaviest  of  military  loads,  has  a  joint  scheme  simi- 
lar to  that  described  above  for  the  light  bridge. 

Dugout  Construction  and  Mine  Warfare 

From  the  bridge  work  we  proceeded  to  the  model 
"front,"  where  the  school's  members  were  busy  on  dug- 
out construction,  barbed  wire  entanglements,  trench  dig- 
ging and  other  activities.  The  school's  battle  sector  is 
underlaid  with  rock,  so  that  the  du^rout  work  was  a 
rsgular  hard-rock  tunneling  job.  The  entrances  to  two 
of  these  underground  works  are  shown  in  Figs.  12  and 
13.  They  assume  the  form  of  inclines  extending  to  such 
depth  that  they  have  about  25  ft.  of  head  cover  over  the 
roof  where  a  horizontal  passage  begins.  The  incline  was 
timbered  solid  with  standard  mining  sets.  Excavation 
required  rock  drilling  wiLh  jackhamers  fed  by  hose  from 
a  compressor  driven  by  a  gasoline  engine.  This  plant 
was  mounted  on  a  steel  frame  so  that  it  could  be  placed 
on  a  motor  truck  and  moved  from  place  to  place.  Blast- 
ing was  done  with  light  charges  of  explosives. 

In  addition  to  the  construction  of  dugouts  and  shel- 
ters the  course  of  instruction  given  by  the  mining  sec- 
tion includes  the  principles  of  mine  warfare  and  the 
subject  of  demolitions.  In  mine  warfare  it  is  neces- 
sary to  gain  information  regarding  the  location  and 
progress  of  the  enemy's  underground  work,  and  in  that 
way  be  in  a  position  to  forestall  his  plans  of  attack,  or 
by  noting  a  defect  in  his  defensive  system  take  advan- 
tage, for  ofi^ensive  action,  cf  his  weak  points.  To  ascer- 
tain the  enemy's  underground  positions  it  is  necessary 
to  employ  very  sensitive  listening  apparatus  which 
greatly  intensifies  the  sounds  made  in  the  rock  during 
the  progress  of  the  work.  By  noting  at  different  points 
the  directions  from  which  these  sounds  appear  to  come, 
it  is  possible  by  means  of  triangulation  to  locate  the 
enemy's  workings  quite  accurately. 

The  mining  section  is  equipped  with  a  listening  circle 
and  galleries  where  detailed  instruction  is  given  in  the 
art  of  listening.  The  students  are  then  given  a  practical 
course  in  actual  listening  and  plotting  of  results,  after 
which  their  papers  are  corrected  and  graded. 

In  connection  with  the  listening  work  a  course  of 
mine  rescue  is  given  by  the  mining  section,  in  which 
the  students  are  required  to  wear  oxygen  helmets  and 
are  taught  the  methods  employed  in  rescuing  men  who 
have  become  casualties  in  underground  warfare.  In 
addition  to  these  subjects  practical  instruction  is  given 
in  the  employment  of  different  kinds  of  explosives  in 
the  execution  of  military  demolition. 

Wire-Entanglement  Work 

In  front  of  the  dugouts  were  the  barbed  wire  bar- 
riers. One  of  the  most  effective  types  consisted  of  cir- 
cular hoops  of  stiff  plain  wire  connected  by  strands  of 
barbed  wire,  forming  an  obstruction  that  looked  like  an 
elongated  squirrel  cage,  except  that  diagonal  strands 
crisscrossing  from  one  hoop  to  another  blocked  up  the 
cylindrical  longitudinal  opening.  This  form  of  obstruc- 
tion is  made  up  in  20-ft.  lengths  behind  the  lines,  and 
before  it  is  placed  in  position,  it  is  packed  close  like  a 

] 


PIGS.  12  AND  13.  THESE 
ARE  THE  ENTRANCES  TO 
TWO  MODEL  DUGOUTS 
WHICH  STUDENTS  AT  THE 
ARMY  ENGINEER  SCHOOL, 
ARE   EXCAVATING  IN   ROCK 


coil  of  wire  rope.  It  is  then  carried  forward  and  opened 
out  like  the  bellows  of  an  accordion. 

Iron  stakes,  of  the  screw  type,  are  used  to  hold  the 
framing  hoops  upright.  These  screw  stakes,  or  pick- 
ets, possess  an  advantage  over  stakes  that  must  be 
driven  with  a  mallet,  in  that  they  can  be  set  noiselessly. 
This  is  a  very  important  feature  when  working  in  No 
Man's  Land. 

Other  types  of  wire  obstacles  are  constructed  in  ad- 
srantageous  locations  by  the  students.  There  are  regu- 
lar drills  for  the  erection  of  these  various  forms  of  en- 
tanglement, a  certain  crew  being  assigned  to  a  definite 
length  of  obstacle.  Each  man  of  the  crew  has  certain 
definite  tasks,  which  he  goes  at  in  turn,  so  that  the 
placing  of  a  stretch  of  wire  is  like  a  silent  game. 

Further  along  we  find  a  real  front-line  fire  trench — 
this  standard  trench  as  well  as  the  barbed  wire  en- 
tanglements being  the  work  of  the  pioneer  section. 
It  is  laid  out  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  the 
ground.  In  this  trench  are  all  types  of  standard  revet- 
ment, supporting  the  sides,  there  being  several  fire 
bays  in  each  type.  A  real  observation  post  has  been 
put  in,  so  cunningly  concealed  that  it  is  impossible  to 
detect  it  from  the  enemy's  side.  The  drainage  of 
trenches  is  always  a  problem — and  here  it  is  well  worked 
out,  so  that  the  students  can  get  real  practice  for  use 
later  when  they  are  in  charge  of  sectors  at  the  front. 

The  tracing  of  trenches  is  worked  out  in  this  sector 
by  the  students,  both  in  the  daytime  and  at  night. 
To  be  ready  to  do  this  work  quickly  and  noiselessly  when 
under  the  observation  of  the  enemy  takes  much  prac- 
tice, and  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  an  officer 
should  know  just  how  to  go  about  it.  The  method  of 
placing  a  working  party  on  the  job  is  also  practiced, 
after  the  trace  of  the  new  trenches  has  been  laid  down. 

Under  "pioneering"  come  also  the  construction  and 
maintenance  of  roads,  always  one  of  the  most  vital 
problems  with  which  military  engineers  have  to  deal, 
and  there  are  at  present  at  the  school  roads  in  every 

-  [    60 


stage  of  construction,  from  the  preliminary  excavation 
to  the  completed  product. 

A  light  railway  connects  the  front  line  with  the  rear 
of  this  "battle  sector."  When  one  sees  the  immense 
amount  of  rock  and  gravel  that  has  been  hauled  over 
its  rails,  one  realizes  how  important  is  the  construction 
of  such  means  of  transportation  at  the  front,  and  here 
again  the  student  gets  that  practical  instruction  which 
is  the  only  adequate  training  to  prepare  men  for  actual 
service  in  the  field. 

The  conferences  of  the  pioneer  section  not  only  pre- 
pare the  students  for  outdoor  work  in  field  fortification,, 
construction  of  roads  and  communications  and  light  rail- 
ways, but  also  take  up  in  detail  the  study  of  French 
maps,  billeting,  construction  of  various  types  of  huts, 
and  layout  of  water-supply  systems. 

To  see  a  class  of  fifty  students  earnestly  studying  a 
map  to  discover  the  best  position  for  a  strong  point  is 
to  convince  oneself  that  they  mean  business.  This  map 
study  is  of  the  greatest  value,  because  an  officer  must 
be  able  to  orient  himself  quickly  on  the  ground  and — 
with  the  aid  of  his  map — ^know  exactly  how  to  lay  out 
and  hold  his  position. 

Billeting  was  a  new  proposition  to  our  Army  when 
it  came  to  France,  and  it  really  requires  considerable 
study.  Conferences  of  the  pioneer  section  study  this 
subject  in  detail,  as  well  as  methods  of  constructing  huts 
when  billets  are  not  available. 


Army  Engineer  School  in  France  Standardizes 

Work  in  the  Field 

Gives  Courses  of  Training  to  Men  Recommended  for  Commissions — Operations  Conducted  Mostly  in  the 
Open — Classes  Trained  in  Mining,  Pioneering,  Bridging,  Topography,  Camouflage,  Sound  Ranging  and 
Interpretation    of    Aerial   Photographs — Model    Battle    Sector    Laid    Out    and    Completely    Equipped 

By  Robfrt  K,  Tomlin,  J-i. 

War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 


THE  British  say  that  "an  army  advances  astrids  a 
4-in.  pipe."  To  familiarize  our  students  with  water- 
supply,  they  are  taught  the  organization  of  our  water- 
supply  service,  and  the  requirements  of  men  and  animals 
in  gallons  of  water  daily,  and  they  are  warned  of  the 
probable  difficulties  they  will  encounter.  To  make  these 
difficulties  appear  more  real,  they  are  worked  into  inter- 
esting water-supply  problems,  approximating  as  closely 
as  possible  those  which  occur  daily  in  trench  warfare, 
ana  which  graduates  of  the  Engineer  School  will  be 
undoubtedly  called  upon  to  solve.  Working  out  such  ex- 
i^mples  in  a  classroom  has  proved  excellent  training 
for  the  efficient  execution  of  water-supply  schemes  at  the 
front.  The  accompanying  British  official  photographs 
show  the  kind  of  water-supply  work  done  at  the  front. 
The  inclusive  heading  of  "Pioneering"  takes  in  prac- 
tically every  subject  in  military  engineering  except 
those  specifically  relating  to  mines  or  bridges,  and  every- 
where at  the  Army  Engineer  School  one  sees  encourag- 
ing evidence  that  no  point  has  been  overlooked. 

Sound  Ranging 

Students  at  the  school  are  receiving  instruction  in 
certain  highly  specialized  phases  of  mapping  and  plot- 
ting in  connection  with  artillery  work.  Among  these 
is  sound  ranging — the  registering  of  an  enemy  battery 
by  means  of  apparatus  operating  on  the  general  prin- 
ciple of  a  seismograph.  It  is  disclosing  no  secret  to 
outline  the  general  principles  of  this  work  as  practiced 
by  the  American  Army,  inasmuch  as  the  scheme  has  al- 
ready received  publicity  in  the  French  press.  In  fact, 
one  of  the  papers  gives  to  French  sound-ranging  ap- 
paratus the  credit  for  locating  the  long-range  guns 
which  have  been  bombarding  Paris  since  the  German 
drive  began,  although  it  is  asserted  in  other  quarters 
that  la  grosse  Bertha,  was  spotted  by  means  of  aerial 
photographs. 

Briefly,  the  sound  ranging  work  involves  the  installa- 
tion of  recording  apparatus  at  three  points,  some  dis- 
tance apart,  the  location  of  each  being  definitely  known 
in  advance.  The  detonation  of  an  enemy  gun  will  be 
heard  at  point  A  at  a  certain  time,  at  point  B,  let  us 
say,  a  second  later,  and  at  point  C,  two  seconds  later. 
Knowing  the  velocity  at  which  sound  travels,  it  is  easy 
to  determine  that  the  gun  is  a  certain  distance,  x,  nearer 
A  than  B.  By  taking  A  and  B  as  origins,  plotting  pairs 
of  circles,  one  radius  always  being  longer  by  x  than  the 
other,  and  connecting  the  intersections,  we  get  a  curve 
on  any  point  of  which  the  enemy  gun  may  be  located. 
This  curve  is  obviously  a  hyperbola,  for  the  difference 
between  the  distances  of  any  point  on  it  from  the  two 
fixed  points,  or  foci,  A  and  B,  is  always  the  same. 


Repeating  this  performance  for  points  A  and  C  we 
plot  a  new  series  of  circles,  the  radii  differing  in  this 
case  by  a  distance  of  y  corresponding  to  the  time  elapsed 
between  the  recording  of  the  sound  of  the  shot  at  A  and 
at  C.  Again  connecting  the  intersections  of  these  pairs 
of  circles,  we  get  a  second  hyperbola  which  forms  an- 
other locus  of  points  for  the  gun  position.  Obviously, 
the  intersection  of  these  two  hyperbolas  gives  the  true 
position  of  the  battery  which  is  doing  the  firing. 

Of  course  the  actual  registering  of  a  battery  position 
does  not  involve  all  of  the  clumsy  details  cited  above  to 
explain  the  principle  of  the  method.  Graphical  charts 
have  been  developed  for  accelerating  the  interpretation 
of  the  data,  and  the  recording  apparatus  operates  with 
sensitized  paper,  which  passes  into  a  chemical  develop- 
ing solution  and  is  ready  for  use  in  a  very  short  time. 

The  first  thought  that  comes  to  mind  is  that  with 
many  guns  firing  along  the  front  the  work  of  inter- 
preting the  sound  records  would  be  exceedingly  confus- 
ing. To  some  extent  this  is  the  case,  but  with  a  proper 
location  of  the  recording  posts  and  practice  in  reading 
the  records,  surprisingly  accurate  results  are  obtained. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  a  gun  will  probably  fire  a 
number  of  shots  from  one  position  and  that  every  time 
the  same  series  of  time  intervals  will  be  recorded 
at  the  three  observation  posts.  Thus,  by  comparing 
several  records  which  are  apparently  complicated  by 
other  sounds  than  that  from  the  gun  it  is  desired  to 
register,  it  is  possible  to  identify  the  recurring  series  of 
three  marks  on  the  sensitized  paper,  eliminate  others 
and  spot  the  position  of  the  battery. 

Another  aid  to  confirming  the  position  of  an  enemy 
field  piece  is  the  method  of  flash  ranging ;  that  is,  taking 
the  direction  of  the  flash  of  a  gun  at  night  from  two  or 
more  posts  of  observation,  the  intersection  of  the  azi- 
muths, of  course,  disclosing  the  gun  positions. 

Aerial  Pictures  Aid  Topographical  Work 

In  a  previous  article,  in  Engineering  News-Record  of 
May  23,  p.  984,  I  touched  on  the  subject  of  the  interpre- 
tation of  aerial  photographs  for  mapmaking  and  artil- 
lery purposes.  At  the  Army  Engineer  School  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  a  class  being  instructed  in  this 
fascinating  branch  of  work;  the  offcer  in  charge  is  a 
former  topographic  engineer  of  the  United  States  Geo- 
logical Survey. 

The  aerial  picture  must  be  accompanied  by  data  giv- 
ing the  approximate  height  of  the  camera  when  the  ex- 
posure was  made,  the  date  and  time  of  day,  direction  of 
north,  etc.  It  is  examined  under  lenses  and  stereo- 
scopes, the  latter  bringing  out  objects  in  rcMef.  The 
study  of  shadows  is  a  vital  part  of  the  work,  for  where 


[     61     ] 


camouflage  covers  up  an  object  from  a  point  of  observa- 
tion overhead  ttie  shadow  it  casts  is  often  the  telltale 
mark  by  which  important  bits  of  information  are  dis- 
closed. It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  in  the  interpretation 
of  shadows  it  is  desirable  to  know  the  time  of  day  at 
which  the  picture  was  taken. 

Tracks  or  trails  of  any  sort  also  are  carefully  studied, 
for  they  always  mean  activity  of  some  kind — possibly 
the  delivery  of  ammunition  to  a  dump  which  is  otherwise 


protected  from  observation  by  camouflage.  A  favorite 
enemy  trick  is  to  place  "dummy"  batteries  in  the  field 
to  fool  the  mapmakers.  Absence  of  a  track  or  trai.. 
leading  to  these  places  shows  them  up  as  "fakes.'' 
Sometimes,  too,  "faked"  tracks  and  blast  marks  are 
fixed  up  with  the  white  chalk  so  abundant  in  the  war 
zone  of  France.  The  canny  interpreter  of  photographs^ 
however,  is  not  misled  by  these  subterfuges. 

All  of  these  data  are  reduced  to  map  form  by  means 


THE  BRITISH  SAY:  "AN  ARMY 
ADVANCES  ASTRIDE  A  FOUR- 
INCH  PIPE  LINE."  AT  THE 
ARMY  ENGINEER  SCHOOL  OUR 
MEN  ARE  TRAINED  IN  WATER- 
SUPPLY  WORK,  THE  SCOPE  OF 
WHICH  IS  INDICATED  BY 
THESE    BRITISH    PICTURES 

FIG.  14.     BRINGING  UP  WATER 

PIPES   TO   SUPPLY   THE 

FRONT    LINE 

FIG.  15.     PUTTING  UP  A  WATER 
TROUGH   FOR  THE   CAVALRY 


FIG.    16. 


TEMPORARY    WATER 
TANKS 


PIG.  17.     A  BIG  WATER  DEPOT 
British  Official  Photographs. 


■    -   •     >   -            '      "     sar 

,     .^^^Hl!" 

;         ^'f^'^"  / 

:L-„-.-J-:-^   "---.'^J 

mmk 

--r<r^'.^             r^:"^^ii^ 

[     62     ] 


of  straight-line  intersections,  by  the  use  of  the  camera 
lucida  and  the  appareils  roussilhes.  The  first  named 
method  is  most  generally  used,  and  the  several  steps  are 
as  follows : 

On  the  photograph,  select  four  points  easily  identi- 


fied on  the  map,  which  are  so  situated  that  the  lines 
joining  them  intersect  on  or  close  to  the  particular  de- 
tail it  is  desired  to  fix.  On  the  map,  draw  lines  join- 
ing the  corresponding  points.  The  intersection  of  these 
lines  will  give  the  true  position  of  the  particular  detail 


^^/Z'^^^^:^^ 


A:  ^\^^7h 


^^^^ 

^^^^^I^^^K^^^^^^H 

si^^jbi^^^^^^^b 

^Hh 

^Hi 

HH^^^^^S 

VIE  INTERPRETER  OF  AfiRIAL  PHOTOS  MAKES  SUCH  AS  THESE   (ON  WHICH  THE  LETTERING  HAS  BEEN  SUPER- 
IMPOSED) TELL  AN  IMPORTANT  STORY 

[     63     ] 


in  question.  The  remainder  of  the  detail  can  bs  quickly 
drawn  in  with  the  aid  of  proportional  compasses.  This 
method  simplifies  the  matter  of  adjusting  errors. 

The  camera  lucida  is  nothing  more  than  a  prism 
mounted  by  means  of  extension  rods  upon  a  light  wooden 
framework  comprising  a  base  and  a  sliding  easel.  The 
photograph  is  pinned  on  the  easel,  and  the  map  on 
the  drawing  board,  the  plane  of  the  photograph  being 
perpendicular  to  the  plane  of  the  map.  Looking  verti- 
cally through  the  prism,  a  faint  image  of  the  photograph 
is  projected  down  on  the  map,  and  with  a  pencil  small 
sections  at  a  time  are  traced. 

The  appareils  roussilhes  method  is  carried  out  by 
means  of  an  optique  cinematographique.  A  photo- 
graphic plate  is  used  and  the  image  thrown  on  the  map 
in  the  same  way  screer.  pictures  are  shown.  By  various 
adjustments  of  the  instrument  the  proportion  of  the 
image  projected  on  the  map  is  reduced  or  enlarged  until 
it  fits  the  map  scale,  and  then  the  lines  are  traced.  The 
accompanying  aerial  photographs  show  the  kind  of  ma- 
terial that  must  be  made  to  reveal  its  story. 

The  topographic  section  of  the  school,  of  which  the 
interpretation  of  photographs  is  a  part,  also  gives  in- 
struction in  map  reading,  surveying  and  landscape 
sketching,  and  includes  an  artillery  orienting  course. 

The  camouflage  section  has  a  wider  scope  than  any 
other  in  the  Engineer  School,  inasmuch  as  camouflage 


must  bs  applied  to  every  branch  of  the  service.  It  in- 
cludes heavy  artillery;  field  artillery;  trench  mortars, 
light  and  heavy;  gas  projectors;  dugout  and  mine  en- 
trances with  spoil  banks ;  observation  and  listening  posts 
of  many  types ;  tanks ;  snipers'  posts,  and  the  numerous 
not-to-be-described  "fakes"  and  front  line  work. 

Many  people  have  the  idea  that  camouflage  work  is 
mostly  done  by  artists,  painting  in  studios  far  removed 
from  the  front.  About  one  per  cent  of  it  is  produced  in 
studios.  The  rest  is  military  engineering  erected  under 
fire,  and  the  camoufleur  must  have  a  working  knowledge 
of  all  materiel  of  war. 

On  account  of  the  broad  scope  of  camouflage,  the  stu- 
dents in  this  section  of  the  school  range  from  major  gen- 
erals to  privates.  Special  attention  is  given  to  cam- 
ouflage discipline.  Another  interesting  study  is  the 
camouflage  of  shadows,  which  are  successfully  concealed. 

It  is  obvious  that  this  subject  can  not  be  written 
about  in  detail.  The  familiar  illustrations  often  pub- 
lished in  magazines  and  newspapers  are  the  obvious  and 
theatrical  ones,  seldom  tised.  The  real  camouflage  would 
not  make  an  interesting  picture,  because  no  one  would 
see  it  i7i  a  photograph. 

The  Army  Engineer  School,  to  the  technica.  man,  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  places  in  France  today.  It 
is,  in  effect,  a  museum  where  one  sees  the  practical  ap- 
plication of  the  new  military  engineering. 


[     64     ] 


American-Built  Docks  in  France  Com- 
pleted by  Pacific  Coast  Engineers 

Second  Battalion  Had  4100-Foot  Timber  Structure  Ready  April  15- 
First  Battalion  at  Work  on  Huge  Storage  Depot 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 

Photographs  D,  O,  H  and  N  from  Committee  on  Public  Information- 
All  Others  by  Engineei'ing  News-Record 


AT  AMERICAN-BUILT  docks  in  France  transat- 
lantic freight  from  American-built  ships  has  been 
unloaded,  classified  and  routed  to  the  front  via  Ameri- 
can-built railway  yards  since  the  middle  of  April.  With 
brand-new  berths  for  10  vessels,  in  addition  to  an  exist- 
ing string  of  docks  near  by,  previously  constructed  by 
the  French,  the  great  marine  terminal  at  Base  Section 
No.  —  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces,  a  tim- 
ber structure  supported  by  wooden  piles,  extends  for 
almost  a  mile  over  a  site  which  was  nothing  but  mud 
flats  half  a  year  ago.  Long,  low  classification  sheds 
flank  the  shore  side  of  the  docks;  further  inland  a  re- 
ceiving yard  and  a  departure  yard  for  the  handling 
of  empty  and  loaded  freight  cars  are  well  along  toward 
completion;  specially  designed  timber  rigs,  for  the  han- 
dling of  ships'  cargoes,  and  heavy  steel  gantry  cranes 
are  being  erected;  railway  cars  and  motor  trucks,  in  a 
steady  stream,  flow  along  the  quay,  picking  up  their 
burdens  of  freight  for  transport  either  directly  to  the 
advance  section,  or  for  storage  at  the  base  or  inter- 
mediate depots. 

Busy  Scenes  at  the  Docks 

This  is  the  scene  at  the  docks :  A  solid  background  of 
spars,  rigging  and  weirdly  camouflaged  hulls  motionless 
at  their  moorings,  and  a  foreground  of  action  kaleido- 
scopic in  its  variety.  Booms  are  swinging  crates  from 
ships'  holds,  engines  are  spotting  cars  along  the  quay, 
negro  stevedores  are  trucking  loads  into  the  classifica- 
tion sheds.  Motor  trucks  are  darting  to  and  fro  over 
the  broad  timber  flooring,  and  labor  gangs  are  grading 
and  laying  railroad  track  back  of  the  classification  sheds. 
Here  is  a  group  of  Spaniards,  in  brown  corduroys  and 
canvas  slippers,  unloading  crushed  stone  from  cars; 
there,  German  prisoners  in  the  faded  remnants  of  field- 
gray  uniforms,  piling  lumber  under  the  direction  of  a 
blue-coated  French  guard  with  a  long  bayoneted  rifle 


slung  over  his  shoulder.  Back  along  the  road  which 
parallels  the  waterfront  pass  truck-loads  of  Chinese 
powder-factory  employees,  or  negro  .-stevedores  going  to 
or  from  work.  Things  are  moving  down  at  the  Amei'- 
ican  docks  in  France. 

But  what  of  the  men  who  set  the  stage  for  this  spec- 
tacle— the  engineers  who  took  the  plans  of  the  docks  and 
transformed  lines  on  blueprints  into  realities  of  timber, 
concrete  and  steel?  Their  job  on  the  main  dock  struc- 
ture practically  completed,  these  constructors  have 
stepped  back  from  the  center  of  the  stage  to  make  way 
for  the  operating  forces,  but  they  have  left  behind  them 
a  convincing  record  of  achievement  since  they  landed 
in  France  last  September. 

Men  from  Pacific  Coast  Did  Work 

The  construction  of  the  new  docks  and  yards  at  Base 
Section  No.  —  is  largely  the  work  of  the  second  bat- 
talion of  an  engineer  regiment  consisting  of  men  from 
the  Pacific  coast.  It  is  a  "hand-picked"  organization  of 
volunteers,  for  the  regimental  quota  of  about  1700  was 
culled  from  6000  applications.  Its  commanding  officer  is 
the  chief  engineer  of  Base  Section  No.  — ,  and,  in 
addition  to  the  dock  and  railway-yard  construction,  he 
is  responsible  for  a  score  of  other  big  projects — an  im- 
mense general  storage  depot  and  rrailway  yard,  which 
is  in  charge  of  the  first  battalion  of  his  regiment;  hospi- 
tal construction,  railroad  extension,  ordnance  ware- 
houses, engine  terminals,  car-erecting  plants,  repair 
shops,  a  refrigerating  plant,  etc.,  all  of  this  work  being 
scattered  over  an  area  of  a  great  many  hundred  square 
miles.  The  construction  program  in  Base  Section  No. 
—  is  staggering.  For  example,  entirely  separate  from 
the  dock  work — a  huge  job  in  itself — is  the  general  stor- 
age depot  six  miles  distant,  which  will  consist  ultiniately 
of  144  warehouses,  each  500  x  64  ft.  in  plan,  and  a  rail- 
way yard  with  170  miles  of  track. 


G5 


To  anyone  familiar  with  the 
army  transport  problem  in 
France,  the  fact  that  the 
American  docks  at  Base  Sec- 
tion No  —  have  been  built 
and  in  operation  for  some 
time  past  is  big  news.  It 
means  more  tonnage  and,  con- 
sequently, a  general  speeding 
up  of  construction  work 
throughout  the  areas  of 
France  occupied  by  the  Amer- 
ican forces,  for  the  big  ob- 
stacle in  the  way  of  more 
rapid  progress  in  the  past  has 
been  delay  in  the  deliveries 
of  construction  plant,  con- 
struction materials  and  con- 
struction men.    Everywhere  I 

have  gone  I  have  heard  this  same  story — not  a  complaint, 
but  a  frank  statement  of  conditions  as  they  have  been. 
Lacking  peace-time  facilities  for  the  handling  of  large- 
scale  jobs,  our  engineers  have  succeeded  in  making  prog- 
ress without  them.  When  machinery  does  not  arrive  the 
only  recourse  is  hand  labor.  When  the  erection  of  a 
warehouse  calls  for  a  bill  of  timber  of  certain  sizes  and 
lengths,  and  nothing  of  the  sort  is  to  be  had,  something 
else  must  be  made  to  do.  It  is  no  new  experience  for  our 
men  to  build  up  4-in.  timber  members  from  1-in.  stuff. 

And  that  is  the  important  point  about  the  engineering 
work  for  the  army  in  France.  It  must  get  along  with 
the  tools  and  materials  at  hand.  It  would  be  mislead- 
ing and  unfair  to  the  men  who  have  accomplished  such 
wonders  with  the  facilities  available  to  picture  the  con- 
struction program  over  here  as  a  sort  of  triumphal 
march  over  smooth  roads.  It  has  been  nothing  of  the 
sort.  It  has  been  pretty  hard  sledding  all  the  time, 
but  never  so  hard  as  to  make  our  men  let  up  in  their 
efforts  to  put  the  job  through.  And.  in  the  case  of  the 
docks,  they  have  put  the  job  through  splendidly,  these 
engineers  from  the  Pacific  slope,  for  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  the  pioneer  in  their  make-up,  the  sort  of  stuff 
inbred  by  life  in  the  great  open  country  of  the  West, 
which  enables  a  man  to  face  new  and  difficult  conditions 
with  a  calm  confidence  in  his  ability  to  win  out  ulti- 
mately. And  so,  when  they  needed  a  sawmill  for  fram- 
ing timber,  for  example,  and  could  not  get  one  ready- 
made,  they  ferreted  out  a  steam  boiler  here,  an  engine 


A.     WOODEN     DOCKS     ARE     PROTECTED     BY    MOTOR-DRIVEN   FIRE-FIGHTING   AP- 

'^PARATUS — IN    FOREGROUND,    MAJOR   COMMANDING   ENGINEER  BATTALION 

AND  CAPTAIN  WHO  HAD  IMMEDIATE    CHARGE   OF   DOCK   CONSTRUCTION 


(Shed   built  In  12  Sections) 


u  1^  U  iJ  U 

FIG.  1.     CROSS-SECTION    OF   DOCK     STRUCTURE     AND 
CLASSIFICATION   SHED 


there,  other  accessories  where  they  could  find  them,  and 
in  a  little  while  the  outfit  was  assembled  and  cutting 
timber,  "See  that  two-story  classification  shed  do-ivn  at 
the  end  of  the  docks?"  asked  Major  R ,  command- 
ing the  second  battalion  during  my  visit  to  the  job. 
"The  floor  joists  are  the  only  sticks  in  it  which  are  in 
accordance  with  the  blueprint  plans!"  But  the  building 
was  up  and  ready  for  service. 

On  the  docks  and  railway  yards  the  force  comprised 
about  2500  men,  including  the  engineer  troops,  labor 
battalions  and  a  crew  from  the  Phoenix  Construction 
Company. 

At  Base  Section  No.  —  large  shipments  of  trans- 
atlantic freight  are  being  handled — just  how  large  I  am, 
of  course,  not  in  a  position  to  say — but  it  should  be 
realized  that  not  all  of  our  cargoes  from  the  United 
States  are  being  received  at  this  one  port.  However,  in 
the  scheme  of  transport  and  supply  to  the  front,  this 
terminal  is  playing  a  large  part.  In  a  former  article  on 
the  advance  depot  (see  Engineering  News-Record  of  July 
4,  p.  27)  I  outlined  the  general  scheme  of  zoning  and 
distribution  back  of  the  front.  There  are,  as  the  main 
parts  of  the  transportation  and  supply  system,  the  ad- 
vance depot,  the  point  of  distribution  nearest  the  front ; 
the  intermediate  depot,  somewhere  between  the  advance' 
depot  and  the  seacoast;  and  finally,  the  base  depots,, 
which  are,  of  course,  bigger  than  any  of  the  others. 
Freight  from  ships,  in  the  case  of  Base  Section  No.  — , 
is  passed  either  directly  into  railroad  cars  or  into  the 

classification    sheds    along    the; 
inner   wall   of   the    quay,    and 
thence     goes     by     rail     either; 
directly   toward   the    front   cr 
into  the  huge  base  storage  de- 
pot, from  which  it  is  later  re- 
moved on  requisition.    The  new 
docks  at  Base  Section  No.  — 
parallel   the  waterfront   and   are   4109   ft,   long,   with 
berths  for  handling  10  ships  simultaneously,  as  pre- 
viously noted.     Timber  flooring,  86  ft,  wide,  carrying 
four  parallel  lines  of  standard-gage  railway  track  and 
one    line    of    44-ft    gantry-crane    track,    is    supported 
by  timber  pile  bents  spaced  10  ft.  on  centers.     As  to 
the  choice  of  the  type  of  structure,   it  was  essential 
to  design  something  which  could  be  built  quickly  and 

[     66     ] 


B.     SPECIALLY  DESIGNED   CARGO-HANDLING  DEVICE 

BEING  USED  TEMPORARILY  FOR  DELIVERING 

MATERIAL  TO  PORTABLE  MIXER 

with  materials  at  hand  or  immediately  in  prospect.  A 
wood-pile  dock  seemed  best  adapted  to  these  conditions. 
Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  placed  upon  this  phase 
of  the  engineering  work  for  the  American  armies  in 
France.  Our  men  cannot  pick  up  a  telephone  or  a  tele- 
graph blank  and  send  in  a  rush  call  for  the  delivery  of 
concrete  mixers,  locomotive  cranes,  cement,  sand  and 
crushed  stone,  sawmills,  timber  piles  of  predetermined 
lengths  and  sizes,  dimension  lumber,  derricks  and  all 
of  the  other  plant  luxuries  of  peace-time  construction. 


I  say  they  cannot  call  for  these  things,  referring  to  con- 
ditions under  which  the  dock  work  was  started  late  last 
year.  Of  course,  the  situation  is  improving  every  day,, 
and  our  supplies  of  plant  and  equipment  are  now  much 
more  satisfactory  than  formerly.  But  the  engineer  at 
home  must  constantly  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that  all  of 
our  work  over  here  v/as  begun  with  mighty  few  of  the 
mechanical,  material  and  transportation  aids  to  which 
the  engineer  in  civil  life  is  accustomed.  This  condi- 
tion of  affairs,  however,  developed  no  Micawbers  in  the 
ranks  of  our  engineer  units;  no  one  waited  for  "some- 
thing to  turn  up."  Instead,  every  one  buckled  down  to 
the  job,  with  the  result  that  sometning  was  made  to 
"turn  up" — and  that  something  is  the  string  of  classifi- 
cation sheds  and  the  long  line  of  completed  quay  at 
which  loaded  ships  from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic 
are  now  discharging. 

The  timber  structure  for  the  docks  was  chosen  at 
the  beginning  as  being  the  only  one  possible  under  the 
conditions  imposed  on  the  designers — speed  of  construc- 
tion and  use  of  available  materials.  There  is  a  con- 
siderable range  of  tide  at  the  site  (I  am  not  allowed 
to  state  this  quantity  in  feet)  and  the  foundation  ma- 
terial is  a  combination  of  silt  and  ooze,  into  which  9200 
piles  ranging  in  length  from  45  to  70  ft.  were  driven 
for  the  dock  structure  proper.  Piles  put  down  at  other 
places  near  by  swell  the  total  to  about  13,000.  A  num- 
ber of  test  piles  were  driven  to  refusal  before  the  job 
was  begun,  and  it  was  found  that  they  could  be  de- 
pended upon  to  carry  safely  loads  of  20  tons.  The  piles 
are  of  untreated  timber,  as  no  creosoted  material  was 
available  for  quick  delivery. 

The  accompanying  cross-section  drawing,  Fig.  1, 
renders  unnecessary  any  detailed  description  of  the  dock 
structure.  It  should  be  noted,  howr-ver,  that  a  batter 
pile,  not  shown  on  the  main  crosF-section,  is  driven 
under  the  inner  gantry  crane  rail.  While  the  plans  call 
for  three  12-in.  steel  I-beams  under  each  gantry  crane 
rail,  this  type  of  construction  was  employed  only  at  the 


/2"x/2"Cap^ 
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/"x24"D.3:~.   '• 


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ix2i5frap,30/on^ 
extending  back  fo 
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\'i"Floorin<j        ^j" 

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-     uncfer2"x4/}M 


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'"x  36"  Bolts. 
Countersunk 
P    I     oi 


Bo/f-..J 


)2"xl2"5trinqers'}. 
'8"x  10"  Backlog 


5"xl2"x24"-'] 
4"xl2"x24'''-' 


A    -A 


Cross -Section    14" F^nder-.^^ 
*       "  Pile  ^■ 

I''xl2''xl0"— ^ 
fx3"Boat-.^ 


Spikes 


® 


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Side 


A 


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'^\-2,6"x/2"x5'-e" 


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M 


FIG.   2 
O    0    R    I 
P    i     L  I 


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>m^-l"x22"D.B 


l"x22"D.B:—-- 


^I2"x  12'.'.. 
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lt...2'-e'^-  ->U  2'-9"-pk---2'-9"'\, 
FENDER  PILE 

PIGS.  2  AND  3.     DETAILS  OP  THE  MOORING  PILE  AND  THE  PENDER  PILE 

r   67   1 


■5"xl2' 


C.  AT  ONE  END  OF  DOCKS  SOME  WORK  REMAINS  TO  BE  DONE 


south  end  of  the  docks,  where  heavy  steel  gantries  will 
be  used.  For  the  northerly  section  12  x  12-in.  timber 
stringers  support  the  gantry  rails,  on  which  a  special 
and  lighter  unloading  device,  shown  in  Photograph  B, 
will  operate.  The  piles  are  capped  with  12  x  12-in.  tim- 
bers, the  stringers  are  also  12  x  12  in.,  and  the  deck- 
ing is  3  X  8-in.  stuff  carried  by  4  x  10-in.  crossties. 
Practically  all  connections  are  made  with  1-in.  drift- 
bolts. 

For  the  standard-gage  track  on  the  dock  flooring  80- 
Ib.  rails  are  used,  but  the  gantry-crane  rails  are  100  lb. 
per  yard,  and  are  fastened  to  the  ties  by  hookbolts.  The 
pile  bents  are  cross  braced  both  transversely  and  longi- 
tudinally with  3  X  12-in.  timber.  Figs.  2  and  3  show  the 
mooring-pile  and  fender-pile  details. 

An  important  feature  of  the  design  is  the  transverse 
fire  walls  underneath  the  decking,  at  about  300-ft.  in- 
tervals. They  are  of  solid  timber  planking  to  prevent 
the  sweep  of  flames  underneath  the  flooring  along  a  con- 
siderable length  of  dock.  From  the  photographs  it  will 
be  observed  that  the  decking  planks  are  brought  up  flush 
with  the  tops  of  the  rails,  forming  ?  surface  on  which 
motor  trucks  as  well  as  railway  cars  may  operate.  Mo- 
tor-driven fire-fighting  apparatus,  shown  in  Photograph 
A,  is  part  of  the  dock  equipment. 

To  furnish  at  a  proper  level  a  foundation  for  the  con- 
crete flooring  of  the  classification  sheds  and  open  stor- 
age areas,  it  was  necessary  to  make  a  fill  of  about  55,000 
cu.yd.  First,  a  concrete  retaining  wall,  averaging  about 
8  ft.  in  height,  was  built  back  of  the  classification  sheds 
for  the  entire  4100-ft.  length  of  the  docks.  At  the  in- 
shore side  of  the  dock  structure  a  dike  of  puddled  clay 
was  formed  and  faced  on  the  waterfront  slope  with  a 
4-in.  slab  of  concrete  to  prevent  washing  out  by  wave 
action  during  periods  of  high  water.  Between  these  two 
walls — the  concrete-paved  dike  on  'he  waterfront  side 
and  the  concrete  retaining  wall  on  the  shore  side — the 
fill  was  made  by  hydraulic  sluicing.  The  material  is 
sand-dredged  at  a  point  40  miles  from  the  dock  site 
and  delivered  by  French  barges.  From  the  barges 
moored  along  the  timber  quay  wall  the  sand  was  pumped 
out  by  a  hydraulic  dredge.  This  fill  was  compacted  by 
steam  rollers  before  concrete  was  laid  upon  it. 

The  floors  of  the  classification  sheds  and  the  open 
storage  spaces  between  successive  pairs  of  buildings 


are  all  concreted,  this  job  in- 
TOlving  the  covering  of  an  area 
4100  ft.  long  and  76  ft.  wide 
with  concrete  5  in.  thick.  The 
concrete  was  placed  in  trans- 
verse strips  12  ft.  wide  and  is 
not  reinforced.  In  all,  three 
mixers  were  employed.  One 
rig,  shown  in  Photograph  E, 
consisted  of  a  li-yd.  mixer, 
driven  by  a  gasoline  engine, 
the  whole  outfit  being  mounted 
upon  a  flat  car  which  could  be 
moved  along  the  dock  as  work 
progressed.  Distribution  from 
this  mobile  plant  to  the  floor 
area  was  by  narrow-gage  rail- 
way and  V-shaped  industrial 
cars.  In  addition  there  were 
concrete  mixing  plants,  as  shown 
The    capacity    of    these    mixers 


used  two  smaller 
in  Photograph  F 
was  4  yd. ;  they  were  driven  by  gas  engines,  both  mixer 
and  engine  being  mounted  on  a  low  four-wheeled  truck. 
Aggregate  and  cement  were  brought  in  by  railway  cars 
operating  on  the  inner  one  of  the  four  dock  tracks.  The 
aggregate  was  dredged  gravel  and  sand  obtained  at  a 
point  some  distance  from  the  docks  and  delivered  by 
barges;  the  cement  was  shipped  from  England.  With 
160  men  engaged  on  the  work  of  concreting  the  classi- 
fication-shed floors  and  open  storage  spaces,  about  7500 
sq.ft.  of  concrete  5  in.  thick  were  laid  each  day  with  the 
three  mixers  available. 

The  following  summary  shows  the  volume  in  cubic 
yards  of  concrete  required  by  the  docks,  yards  and  ac- 
cessory structures,  such  as  a  new  warehouse,  100  x  3000 
ft.  in  plan,  and  a  cold-storage  plant. 

Classification-shed  floors 4,400 

Retaining  wall 3,800 

Apron  wail 4,400 

New  warehouse 7,200 

Departure  yards 2, 200 

Cold-storage  plant 4,000 


Total 23,600 

Paralleling  the  docks,  the  classification  sheds  are  lo- 
cated in  a  straight  line  with  gaps  between  each  pair 
for  open  storage.  There  are,  in  all,  eight  of  these  sheds ; 
two  of  them  are  312  x  74  ft.  in  plan,  while  the  other 
six  are  205  x  74  ft.  They  are  timber-frame  structures 
sheathed  with  corrugated  iron,  Photograph  C  showing 
one  of  the  sheds  partly  completed.  All  are  one-story 
in  height  except  the  building  at  tht^  southerly  end  of 


D.     DREDGE  PUMPING  SAND  FROM  SCOW  TO  MAKE  RAIL- 
ROAD FILL — NOTE  END  OF  ELEVATED  PIPE  LINE 
AT  RIGHT,  THROUGH  WHICH  SAND  IS  PUMPED 


[     68     ] 


the  string  (Photograph  C),  which  has  a  second  story 
which  will  be  used  as  the  administrative  offices  of  the 
dock-operating  force  The  cross-sec^jon,  Fig.  1,  illus- 
trates the  prevailing  type  of  structure.  As  a  general 
rule  a  gang  of  50  men  worked  on  one  shed.  The  frame 
was  set  usually  in  one  day  and  the  entire  structure  com- 
pleted in  one  week. 

All  of  the  timber  for  these  sheds  came  in  the  rough 
from  the  States.  It  was  framed  by  a  homemade  saw- 
mill operated  by  a  boiler  obtained  from  Spain.  The  en- 
gineers were  successful  in  receiving  from  the  States  a 
circular  saw,  but  had  to  construct  for  themselves 
wooden  pulleys  and  mount  these  on  a  piece  of  shafting 
obtained  locally.  On  this  makeshift  sawmill  most  of  the 
framing  of  timber  for  the  classification  sheds  was  done. 
The  work  was  started  by  the  making  of  templets  for 
each  member  of  the  building,  and  with  these  as  pat- 
terns the  lumber  was  run  through  the  mill  in  bunches  of 
half  a  dozen  pieces  at  a  time.  The  members  for  the 
wooden  roof  trusses  were  bored  by  compressed-air  tools 


and  connected  by  bolts.  On  the  erection  of  the  timber 
framework  double-block  gin  poles  were  employed. 

Behind  the  string  of  classification  sheds  are  three 
lines  of  depressed  railroad  track,  3  ft.  4  in.  below  the 
elevation  of  the  floors.  Then  comes  a  platform  10  ft. 
wide,  set  at  the  same  elevation  as  the  classification  shed 
floors,  followed  by  a  storage  warehouse  100  ft.  wide  with 
an  8-ft.  platform  on  the  inshore  side.  Flanking  this  latter 
platform  are  two  more  lines  of  depressed  track  at  the 
same  elevation  as  those  previously  mentioned.  Another 
accessory  is  a  25-ft.  teamway  for  the  use  of  trucks,  fol- 
lowed by  two  other  team  tracks,  making,  in  all,  six  ad- 
ditional miles  of  trackage  in  connection  with  the  dock 
facilities. 

While  work  on  the  docks  was  in  progress  other  de- 
tachments of  the  engineer  regiments,  assisted  by  labor 
battalions,  were  grading  and  laying  track  in  the  receiv- 
ing and  departure  yards  The  plan  of  the  whole  project 
is  roughly  in  the  form  of  a  quadrilateral  whose  sides  are 
formed  by  the  line  of  docks,  the  receiving  yard,  tne  de- 


E      AND      F.        MOVABLE 
MIXER  PLANTS   USED   IN 


CONCRETING  FLOORS  OF 
CLASSIFICATION      SHEDS 


1 

n 

•«iiia1H 

^^ 

G.     CAPPING  PILES  AND  LAYING  THE  TIMBER  DECKING  AT  THE  AMERICAN  DOCKS 

H.     LOOKING  ALONG  DOCK  SITE— PILEDRIVER  ON  LEFT,  TIMBER  CLASSIFICATION  SHED  IN  CENTER 

J.     THE  ENGINEERS  HAD  TO  BUILD  THEIR  OWN  PILEDRIVERS  AND  DERRICKS 


[     69     ] 


K.      AT   THE   DEPARTURE 

fARD  THE  PILL  IS  BEING 

MADE       BY       HYDRAULIC 

SLUICING 

L.  PLACING  FILL  AND 
LAYING  TRACK  IN  DE- 
PARTURE YARD  —  ENGI- 
NEERS BUILT  ELEVATOR 
COAL    BINS     IN     CENTER 


M.  LABOR  BATTALIONS 
AID  IN  TRACKLAYING — 
IN  BACKGROUND  TRES- 
TLE -  SUPPORTED  PIPE 
USED  IN  MAKING  HY- 
DRAULIC   FILL 

N.      OPEN    STORAGE   FOR 

SUPPLIES  IS  PROVIDED 

AT  MAIN  DEPOT 


O. 


NEW  RAILROAD,  64  MILES  LONG,  LEADING  FROM  DEPARTURE   YARD   AT  DOCKS   TO  BASE   STORAGE   DEPOT- 
NOTE  GRADING   FOR  ADDITIONAL,  TRACKS 


[     70     ] 


parture  yard  and  the  existing  tracks  of  a  French  rail- 
way to  which  connections  have  been  made  for  incoming 
•and  outgoing  traffic. 

Build  Piledrivers 

On  Oct.  1,  exactly  one  month  after  the  engineer  regi- 
ment arrived  in  France,  the  first  shipments  of  piles  and 
lumber  from  the  United  States  came.  At  that  time  the 
men  were  without  the  cant  hooks  and  peaveys  with 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  handle  lumber,  and 
tools  from  home  were  arriving  in  mere  driblets.  A 
batch  of  French  axes  and  shovels  was  purchased  locally. 
One  of  the  first  jobs  was  to  build  p'ledrivers,  derricks, 
sawmills  and  planers  out  of  such  material  as  could  be 
found.  For  the  railway  yard  excavation  two  60-ton 
:steam  shovels  were  obtained  from  Spain.  Purchases  of 
French  track  and  piping  also  were  made,  while  Spain 
was  drawn  upon  for  railroad  ties. 

In  all  there  were  built  two  floating  piledrivers,  five 
skid  and  two  roller  piledrivers,  and  eight  skid  der- 
ricks for  handling  lumber.  While  working  with  the  two 
floating  drivers  and  four  of  the  skid  drivers  the  prog- 
ress amounted  to  about  150  piles  per  day.  The  first 
pile  was  driven  Nov.  12  and  on  Feb.  10  the  driving  of 
the  9200  piles  for  the  docks  proper  was  completed.  Not 
all  of  the  nine  piledrivers,  however,  were  working  until 
about  Christmas. 

The  piles  themselves  were  of  longleaf  yellow  pine 
which  had  been  tapped  for  turpentine.  They  were 
driven  with  3000-lb.  drop  hammers  by  the  floating  and 
skid  rigs.  The  timber  is  not  treated  in  any  way,  as 
there  was  neither  the  time  nor  the  facilities  for  any  such 
procedure.  Taking  into  account  the  alternate  wetting 
and  drying  of  the  dock  substructure,  due  to  tide  varia- 
tions, the  life  of  the  piling  is  estimated  at  from  12  to 
15  years.  Including  piling,  capping,  stringers  and  floor- 
ing, Oe  docks  at  Base  Section  No.  —  represent  about 
5,000,0l>0  ft.  b.m.  of  lumber. 

Where  xhe  gantry-crane  rails  are  carried  by  12  x  12- 
in.  wooden  stringers  rather  than  I-beams,  which  did  not 
arrive  in  time  to  be  used  throughout  the  entire  length 
of  the  docks,  a  special  unloading  device  is  to  be  used. 
It  is  of  timber  construction,  as  shown  in  Photograph 
B,  and  weighs  considerably  less  than  the  70-ton  steel 
gantry  cranes  which  will  operate  at  the  south  end  of 
the  docks.  This  unloading  device,  called  the  "Boschke," 
after  the  name  of  the  captain  of  engineers  who  der 
signed  it,  is  about  20  x  44  ft.  in  plan  and  consists  of  a 
timber-truss  frame  carrying  a  pair  of  45-ft.  ship's 
booms,  tackle  and  hoisting  engine.  The  rig  is  mounted 
on  wheels  which  run  on  the  regular  gantry  tracks,  these 
being  spaced  44  ft.  apart.  The  hoisting  equipment, 
electrically  driven,  is  housed  between  the  two  overhead 
trusses,  as  shown  in  the  picture.     With  this  rig  a  line 

from  the  water-side  boom  is   run 

down  into  the  ship's  hold  and  made 
fast  to  the  load.  The  load  is  then 
hauled  up  by  the  hoisting  engine 
and  when  clear  of  the  ship's  deck 
is  swung  shoreward,  the  weight  be- 
ing transferred  by  means  of  suit- 
able tackle  to  the  second  or  inshore 
boom,  which  deposits  it  on  the  plat- 
form of  a  classification  shed. 


Pa  rt 
El  evoi  tion 


A  speed  test  of  this  apparatus,  v/hich,  its  designer 
explained  to  me,  is  merely  an  adapta^tion  of  the  practice 
of  generations  of  seamen  in  handling  freight  by  ships' 
booms,  resulted  in  a  round-trip  time  of  only  40  sec; 
that  is,  40  sec.  for  picking  up  a  load  from  a  vessel, 
delivering  it  to  the  classification-shed  platform  and  re- 
turning empty  to  the  point  of  starting.  The  device  is 
capable  of  handling  weights  of  five  tons,  although  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  events  the  individual  load.s  will 
average  only  two  tons  or  less. 

Railway  Receiving  and  Departure  Yards 

The  railway  receiving  yard  immediately  back  of  the 
docks  will,  when  finished,  have  a  track  mileage  of  6.25. 
From  it  connection  is  made  to  the  main-line  tracks  of  a 
French  railroad.  At  the  receiving  vard  empty  freight 
cars  will  be  delivered  and  sent  forward  along  the  track- 
age system  on  the  dock  structure  as  needed.  The  four 
lines  of  tracks  on  the  docks  are  equipped  with  double- 
slip  switches,  and  the  layout  is  such  *^hat  any  one  of  the 
ten  berths  can  be  pulled  without  interfering  with  oper- 
ations at  the  others.  The  construction  work  at  the  re- 
ceiving yard  involved  nothing  unusual  in  the  way  of 
grading  and  tracklaying,  as  the  ground  is  fairly  level. 

The  departure  yard,  where  cars  loaded  at  the  docks 
are  made  up  into  trains,  contains  about  18  miios  of 
track.  The  feature  of  the  grading  work  here  is  the  em- 
ployment of  the  hydraulic  sluicing  method  for  making 
the  fill.  Sand  dredged  at  a  point  40  miles  from  the 
docks  is  brought  up  in  barges  and  from  them  pumped 
by  a  French  dredge  boat  to  the  departure  yard  through 
a  30-in.  steel  pipe  line  about  one  mile  long,  carried  on 
timber  trestles.  Photograph  K  shows  this  work  in 
progress.  The  dredge  boat  delivers  at  the  rate  of  2,250,- 
000  gal.  of  water  per  hour,  and  the  flow  contains  about 
10%  of  sand.  The  fill  required  in  all  the  yards  amounts 
to  about  450,000  cubic  yards. 

A  number  of  accessory  structures  are  being  built  at 
the  departure  yard.  There  are,  for  example,  a  group 
of  overhead  coal-storage  bins  (Photograph  L)  and  an 
engine  pit  and  repair  shops  of  concrete  construction, 
with  timber-pile  foundation.  When  I  went  throueh  the 
yard,  work  was  just  about  to  start  on  a  huge  refriger- 
ating plant.  This  structure  is  being  built  and  equipped 
for  a  capacity  of  7500  tons  of  meat. 

At  both  the  receiving  and  departure  yards  much  of 
the  grading  and  tracklaying  is  being  done  by  American 
negro  labor  battalions  under  the  supervision  of  engi- 
neer troops.  Two  60-ton  American-built  steam  shovels, 
hailing  from  Spain,  were  cutting  down  banks  prelimi- 
nary to  the  grading  of  the  roadbed  for  track. 

Because  of  the  increase  of  traffic  between  the  de- 
parture yard  and  the  general  storage  depot  for  Base 
Section  No.  — ,  61  miles  distant,  it  was  considered  nec- 
essary to  parallel  the  existing  double-track  line  of  a 


Jj,  Typical 
Long.  Section 


Splice  PI.  2\d"KZ' 

■Ra  fters,  2"xd"x)d' 


^    Boards 


\'    '   '    '  '  '  I  ''.Weej 


Cross       -      Section 
FIG.  4.   CROSS-SECTION  OF  WOODEN  WAREHOUSE  AT  BASE  STORAGE  PLANT 


[     71     ] 


P  AND  Q.     AT  THE  BASE  STORAGE  DEPOT  THERE  WILL 
BE.  ULTIMATELY,  144  WOODEN  BUILDINGS  OF  THIS  TYPE. 

French  railway  with  a  third  track,  which  is  shown  in 
Photograph  0.  To  provide  for  future  contingencies  the 
new  route  has  been  graded  for  two  additional  tracks, 
as  shown  at  the  left  of  the  picture,  thus  constituting, 
with  the  existing  French  tracks,  a  four-track  railroad. 

Base  Storage  Depot  and  Yards 

The  base  storage  depot,  which  it?  connected  with  the 
departure  yards  at  the  docks  by  the  61-mile  railway 
line  referred  to  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  is  an  im- 
mense project,  designed  to  hold  three  month's  supplies 
for  2,000,000  men.  In  its  essential  features  it  will  con- 
sist of  144  wooden  warehouses,  each  64  x  500  ft. — 30  of 
them  were  completed  at  the  time  of  my  visit — two  rail- 
way classification  yards,  two  receiving  yards,  one  de- 
parture yard  and  three  storage  yards,  involving  a  total 
trackage  of  117  miles — of  which  30  miles  have  been 
laid  at  this  writing — and  815  switches,  of  which  seven 
are  of  the  double-slip  type.  This  construction  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  first  battalion  of  the  engineer  regiment 
whose  second  battalion  handled  the  docks  and  classifica- 
tion sheds,  the  engineers  being  assisted  by  labor  bat- 
talions of  almost  every  nationality  and  by  big  gangs  of 
German  prisoners.  The  available  labor  force  here  num- 
bered about  6000  on  the  day  I  called  at  the  headquar- 
ters of  the  engineer  captain  in  charge  of  the  job. 

Trained  Gangs   in  "Waves."  Build  Warehouses 

The  sight  of  row  after  row  of  these  long  wooden 
warehouses  brings  to  mind  the  picture  of  the  big-scale 
cantonment  construction  in  the  United  States  which  was 
begun  a  year  ago.  This  job  at  the  base  depot  in  France 
is  one  of  quantity  production  and  is  being  handled  by 


INTERIOR  OF  A  SHED  AT  THE  FRENCH  DOCKS  NEARBY 

•gangs,  each  trained  in  a  single  specialty.  The  work  has 
been  carefully  analyzed  and  segregated  into  certain  ma- 
jor operations,  as  is  the  common  practice  in  the  manu- 
facture of  munitions,  where  a  shell  casing,  for  example, 
will  pass  down  a  line  of  machine  tools,  each  operator 
performing  a  single  operation  upon  it.  Thus,  in  the 
case  of  the  500  x  64-ft.  warehouses  we  have  "waves" 
of  construction  crews  passing  in  succession  over  each 
building.  The  first  gang  digs  post  holes  and  passes  on 
to  the  next  building.  It  is  followed  by  a  gang  which 
sets  the  foundation  posts.  Then  come,  in  order,  gangs 
which  saw  off  the  posts  at  the  corrf^'t  elevations,  erect 
the  timber  frames,  sheathe  the  sides  and  finally  apply 
the  roofing  material.  On  the  warehouse  construction 
about  700  men  are  at  work. 

Figure  4  shows  the  type  of  structure  used  for  the 
base  warehouses.  It  will  be  noted  that  it  involves  no 
roof  trusses — merely  pofits,  rafters  and  knee  bracing. 
The  drawing  shows  the  building  at  the  ground  level  with 
depressed  track  on  either  side,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact 
many  of  the  buildings  I  saw  were  supported  on  posts 
to  bring  the  floor  and  platform  level  flush  with  the  floor 
of  the  freight  cars  operating  on  track  not  depressed  but 
laid  at  about  the  general  level  of  the  ground. 

Design  Subject  to  Change 

Of  course,  it  must  be  understood  that  the  publication 
of  a  sketch  of  this  sort  does  not  presuppose  a  rigid  ad- 
herence to  the  theoretical  design,  particularly  as  re- 
gards the  sizes  and  lengths  of  the  members.  The  con- 
structors use  what  they  can  get.  Rafters,  for  example, 
are  often  built  up  of  1-in.  plank.  Railroad  ties  cheat 
destiny  by  becoming  foundation  posts  for  warehouses. 
Packing  cases,  weary  with  travel,  find  a  permanent  rest- 
ing place  as  sheathing  or  bracing.     As  Captain  S 

remarked,  "We  must  be  ready  to  change  our  designs 
with  each  new  building  erected,  depending  on  the  kind 
of  material  available  for  our  use."    Interior  and  exte- 


[     72     ] 


rior  views  of  one  of  the  500-ft.  warehouses  are  shown  in 
Photographs  P  and  Q. 

While  the  dock  and  railway  yard  work  has  been  essen- 
tially a  construction  problem,  it  has  made  other  and 
exacting  demands  upon  the  engineer  officers  in  charge. 
Upon  the  fund  of  experience  available  in  such  a  regi- 
men as  the  one  which  is  in  charge  of  operations  at  Base 
Section  No.  — ,  it  is  possible  to  draw  for  the  solution  of 
almost  any  technical  problem.  But  in  the  case  of  the 
dock  and  railway-yard  project,  not  all  of  the  difficul- 
ties the  major  in  charge  of  the  first  battalion  had  to  face 
were  technical.  What  textbook  or  field  manual  gives 
the  construction  man  the  slightest  hint  of  approved 
practice  in  mollifying  an  irate  French  housewife  who 
has  been  informed  that  her  house  must  be  torn  down  to 
make  way  for  American  railway  tracks?  Over  here  the 
little  one-story  stone  dwelling,  with  its  red  tile  roof, 
which  has  been  passed  down  from  one  generation  to 
another  for  centuries,  is  something  almost  sacred. 
Surely  les  Americains  will  not  be  so  stony  hearted  as  to 
destroy  it!     The  fact  that  they  will  pay  the  French 


handsomely  for  the  privilege  is  a  matter  of  secondary, 
though  not  of  minor,  importance.  And  so  the  scene  in 
the  engineer's  office  proceeds  through  the  several  stages 
of  indignation,  entreaty  and  tears.  But  our  major  has 
had  his  orders  to  let  nothing  interfere  with  the  progress 
of  the  job,  so  he  must  remain  obdurate — and  sometimes 
this  is  one  of  the  hardest  decisions  he  must  make. 

Just  as  I  was  leaving  the  docks  on  my  journey  back 
to  Paris  the  Major  of  the  second  battalion  of  the  engi- 
neer regiment  who  had  tramped  over  the  whole  job  with 
me  pointed  to  one  of  the  ships  lying  along  the  new  tim- 
ber quay.  "She's  one  of  our  new  vessels,"  he  said, 
"turned  out  at  a  yard  in  Seattle.  Quite  a  coincidence — 
she's  carrying  a  cargo  of  lumber  from  Seattle,  and  here 
she  is  unloading  at  a  dock  in  France  built  by  Seattle 
boys."  As  he  looked  out  over  the  line  of  docks  his  men 
had  built  and  spoke  of  the  ship  newly  arrived  from 
across  the  Atlantic,  there  was  just  a  touch  of  wist- 
fulness  in  the  Major's  voice.  I  discovered  later  that  he, 
too,  came  from  Seattle. 


[     73     ] 


Roads  in  Base  Section  of  American  Forces  Require 
Widening  and  Resurfacing 

Heavy  Traffic  by  Motor  Trucks  and  Artillery  on  Practice  Marches  Necessitates  Continuous  Maintenance— 
I  Many  Narrow  Roads  Were  Never  Designed  for  the  Traffic  They  Are  Now  Carrying 

" '  By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

'  War    Correspondent   of   Engineering   News-Record 

Photographs  hy  Engineering  News-Record 


AS  A  result  of  the  occupation  of  large  areas  in  France 
by  troops  of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces, 
existing  roads  are  being  subjected  to  more  intensive 
traftic  than  they  have  ever  before  carried.  It  goes 
without  saying  that  upon  the  highways  in  the  advance 
section  a  heavy  burden  is  imposed,  and  in  a  former 
article  I  dealt  with  the  work  of  our  Road  Service  in 
this  forward  zone  (see  Engineering  News-Record  of 
May,  16,  p.  953).  Somehow  or  other,  it  seems  to  be 
taken  for  granted  that  the  problem  of  road  reconstruc- 
tion and  maintenance  is  confined  to  the  territory  im- 
mediately behind  No  Man's  Land.  I  know  that  before 
I  arrived  over  here  I  had  a  rather  vague  idea  that  most 
of  the  engineering  activity  of  the  armies  was  confined 
to  that  mysterious  region  known  as  "the  front."  This 
is  by  no  means  the  case.  In  so  far  as  the  duties  of  the 
highway  engineer  are  concerned,  the  road  problem 
begins  at  the  French  seacoast  and 
extends  from  there  to  the  trenches. 

Let  us  remember  that  the 
trenches  which  American  divisions 
are  now  occupying  and  the  west 
coast  of  France  are  separated  by 
several  hundred  miles.  Let  us  re- 
member, also,  that  practically  all  of 
our  supplies  must  be  delivered  from 
America  at  French  ports  and  trans- 
ported across  this  stretch  of  land, 
several  hundred  miles  long,  before 
they  can  reach  the  combatant  troops. 
We  have,  therefore,  a  main  base  of 
supplies  some  3000  miles  across  the 
Atlantic,  certain  places  in  France 
where  ships  carrying  these  supplies 
dock,  and  then  this  distance  of  sev- 
eral hundred  miles  between  the  ma- 
rine terminals  and  the  points  of 
ultimate  consumption.  This  condi- 
tion of  affairs  is  one  which  has  a 
very  decided  bearing  on  the  upkeep 
of  the  roads. 

Of  course,  most  of  our  material  is 
shipped  across  France  by  railroad 
to  the  advance  section.  Yet,  strung 
along  in  a  wide  band  between  the 
seacoast  and  central  France  is  vil- 
lage after  village  crammed  full  of 
American  troops.  There  are  our 
cantonments,  artillery  training 
camps,  forestry  camps,  aviation  grounds,  storage  depots, 
railway  yards,  ordnance  dumps,  repair  shops — all  of 
these  groups  marking  the  way  between  our  base  sec- 
tions and  forward  lines.     The  creation  of  these  new 


THE    SUPERINTENDENT    OF    ROADS 
WAS  FORMERLY  CHIEF  ENGINEER, 
BUREAU   OF   HIGHWAYS,   BOR- 
OUGH OF  MANHATTAN. 
NEW   YORK    CITY 


together  with  the  practice  of  billeting  American  troops 
in  scores  of  old  French  villages,  means,  of  course,  a  sub- 
stantial increase  in  motor-truck  traffic  on  roads  which 
were  never  designed  for  such  hard  usage  as  they  are 
now  receiving.  Between  towns  where  two-wheeled 
oxcarts  proceeding  at  a  snail's  pace  used  to  supply  the 
bulk  of  the  traffic,  one  sees  now  lines  of  motor  trucks 
hauling  supplies,  or  big  powerful  French  camions  pull- 
ing 6-in.  field  artillery  pieces  in  long  convoys. 

In  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  newly  built  American 
docks  in  the  base  section  traffic  has  become  specially 
heavy.  Motor  trucks  are  arriving  and  departing  con- 
stantly on  short-haul  trips.  Then,  too,  the  presence  of 
American  troops  in  this  region  means  a  great  deal  of 
fast  moving  traffic  in  the  form  of  army  cars  carrying 
officers  from  one  point  to  another.  The  roads  subjected 
to  this  ever-increasing  heavy  traffic  are  for  the  most 
part  either  dirt  or  plain  macadam, 
and  labor,  material  and  plant  for 
maintenance  or  reconstruction  are 
extremely  scarce. 

I  have  recently  returned  from  a 
tour  of  inspection  of  the  roads  in  a 
base  section  which  includes  the  new 
docks  which  our  engineer  troops 
have  built,  huge  storage  depots  and 
railway  yards,  a  big  artillery  train- 
ing camp  and  scores  of  other  im- 
portant army  centers.  The  super- 
intendent of  roads  for  this  section 
is  a  major  of  engineers  who  was 
formerly  chief  engineer  of  the 
Bureau  of  Highways  of  the  Borough 
of  Manhattan,  New  York  City.  Ac- 
cording to  his  analysis  of  the  situa- 
tion the  road  work  in  this  base  sec- 
tion includes  the  construction  of 
20  km.  of  new  roads,  the  complete 
maintenance  of  120  km.,  and  the 
partial  maintenance  of  180  km.,  re- 
sulting in  a  total  of  320  km.,  or, 
roughly,  200  miles  of  road.  This 
mileage  includes  all  of  the  standard 
types  of  French  road:  (1)  Route 
nationale;  (2)  route  departmentale ; 
(3)  chemin  de  grande  communica- 
tion; (4)  chemin  d'interet  local  and 
(5)  vicinal  ordinaire.  These  roads, 
all  of  the  water-bound  macadam  or 
plain  gravel  types,  vary  in  width  from  6  or  7  m.  in  the 
case  of  the  routes  nationales  to  as  little  as  3  m.  for  the 
vicinaux  ordinaires,  which  correspond,  roughly,  to  an 
American  dirt  road  through  farming  country.     At  the 


centers  of  population  along  our  lines  of  communication,     present  time  the  French  Government,  through  the  Ponte 

[     74     ] 


^ 


.'   '^. 


FIGS.  1  AND  2.  TWO  VIEWS  AL^NG 
FARM  ROAD  THREE  METERS  WIDE 
NOW  BEING  USED  BY  OUR  FIELD  AR- 
TILLERY TROOPS  FOR  PRACTICE 
MARCHES  —  NOTE  MARKS  LEFT  BY 
CATERPILLAR  TREADS  OP  BIG  GUN 
CARRIAGES  AND  NOTE  ALSO  HOW 
TRAFFIC  HAS  BEEN  FORCED  OUT  ON 
SHOULDERS   AND    INTO    DITCHES 

FIG.    3.      PASSAGE    OF    AN    ARTILLERT 

TRAIN     THROUGH     A     SMALL     FRENCH 

VILLAGE  HAS  BROKEN  CULVERT 


et  Chaiissees  and  Departmental  forces,  is  endeavoring  to 
do  the  bulk  of  the  maintenance  on  the  national  roads 
and  departmental  roads;  but  as  American  Army  activi- 
ties over  here  in  France  expand,  much  of  this  work 
will  have  to  be  taken  over  by  the  United  States. 

The  problem  of  the  American  road  force  in  the  base 
section  resolves  itself  mainly  into  the  upkeep  of  exist- 
ing roads,  and  the  building  of  new  roads  in  the  camps, 
and  can  be  classified  under  the  three  main  heads  of 
(1)  ordinary  maintenance,  consisting  mainly  of  the 
filling  in  of  holes;  (2)  repairs,  involving  complete  jobs 
of  resurfacing,  and  (3)  widening.  Many  of  our  cen- 
ters of  military  activity  in  the  base  section  are  off  the 
lines  of  main  traffic,  with  the  result  that  ordinary  farm 
roads  are  the  only  existing  routes  available  for  motor- 
truck traffic  and  practice  marches  and  maneuvers  by  field 
artillery  with  their  heavy  guns,  limbers  and  camions. 
In  the  case  of  the  vicinal  ordinaire,  or  farm  road,  the 
width  of  only  3  m.  is  insufficient  for  the  passage  of  two 
trucks,  and  sometimes,  in  fact,  difficult  even  for  the 
passage  of  a  single  line  of  the  wide  artillery  carriages. 
Fig.  1  shows  how  a  practice  march  of  field  artillery 
over  these  narrow  dirt  highways  chews  up  the  shoulders 
of  the  road,  even  when  running  on  caterpillar  treads. 


whose  marks  are  clearly  shown.  In  Fig.  2,  note  from 
the  wheel  tracks  how  traffic  has  been  forced  off  the 
road  into  the  ditches.  Then,  too,  these  artillery  loads, 
amounting  to  7  tons  per  axle,  must  be  hauled  over  cul- 
verts never  designed  for  such  weights,  with  results  such 
as  those  shown  in  Fig.  3.  This  broken  culvert  was  a 
cement  pipe  about  13  in.  in  thickness  and  a  foot  or  so 
in  diameter.  For  such  traffic  the  demand  is  for  wider 
roads,  or  for  turnouts  at  frequent  intervals.  Then,  too, 
the  intersections  of  these  farm  roads  are  not  designed 
for  vehicles  with  the  long  wheel  bases  that  now  use 
them,  so  that  our  road  force  must  build  out  the  edges 
to  provide  easier  curves  at  crossroads. 

In  the  case  of  the  wider  trunk  roads  the  foundation 
course  of  blocage  ranges  from  6  to  10  in.  and  the  top 
course  is  about  6  in.  On  the  town  and  village  roads 
which  are  now  receiving  so  much  American  traffic,  how- 
ever, the  top  course  is  very  thin,  often  only  about  3 
in.,  and  often  there  is  no  special  foundation  course. 
The  problem  of  maintenance  of  these  routes  is  com- 
plicated by  the  difficulty  of  getting  crushed  stone  de- 
livered on  the  job.  It  is  necessary  to  resort  as  far  as 
possible  to  local  material.  Fig.  4  shows  a  gravel  and 
sand  pit  opened  up  by  the  American  Army  Road  Service. 


[     75     ] 


PIG.   4.     SAND  AND  GRAVEL  PIT  BEING  WORKED  BY 
SPANISH    LABOR,    DIRECTED    BY    A    DETAIL    OF 
ONE   OP  OUR  ROAD-BUILDING   REGIMENTS 

It  is  being  worked  by  Spanish  labor  under  the  direction 
of  a  detail  of  our  roadbuilding  regiment.  Owing  to  the 
scarcity  of  materials  it  is  not  always  possible  to  re- 
surface roads  with  as  thick  a  course  as  would  be  de- 
sirable. 

For  handling  the  work  of  complete  and  partial  main- 
tenance on  the  320  km.  of  roads  in  the  base  section,  the 
force  at  the  time  of  my  visit  consisted  of  the  superin- 
tendent of  roads,  two  other  engineer  officers,  225  men 
of  a  roadbuilding  regiment,  and  a  labor  force  of  350 
Spaniards.  The  equipment  included  one  passenger 
automobile,  one  light  truck,  18  dump  wagons,  three  road 
rollers,  36  animals  and  20  motor  trucks,  including  a 
number  borrowed  from  the  French,  a  certain  proportion 
of  which,  however,  were  always  in  the  repair  shops. 

The  superintendent  of  roads  of  the  base  section  re- 
cently prepared  a  statement  of  the  personnel  and  equip- 
ment which,  in  his  opinion,  the  needs  of  the  work  in 
his  district  for  the  next  six  months  demanded.  It  was 
essentially  as  follows:  One  superintendent  of  roads, 
12  engineer  officers,  1500  men.  As  for  plant  desired, 
the  following  were  the  chief  items:  12  steam  rollers, 
50  5-ton  back-dumping  motor  trucks,  eight  light  trucks, 
85  wagons,  188  animals,  15  sprinkler  wagons  and  a 
large  quantity  of  small  tools  such  as  wheelbarrows,  forks 
and  shovels.  During  the  next  six  months  estimates  have 
placed  the  amount  of  crushed  stone  needed  at  50,000 
tons,  or  about  5000  carloads.  For  purposes  of  inspec- 
tion there  were  requested  eight  passenger  automobiles, 
and  nine  motorcycle  side  cars.  The  present  situation  in 
France  with  respect  to  the  available  supply  of  men  and 
materials  is  one  which  has  resulted  in  the  giving  of 
priority  to  requisitions  from  the  zone  of  the  advance 
section,  so  far  as  road  matters  are  concerned. 

The  labor  problem  is  being  partly  solved  by  the  em- 
ployment of  Spaniards,  who  receive  11  francs  per  day 
of  8i  hours.  These  men  must  house  and  feed  them- 
selves— not  a  difficult  matter,  in  view  of  the  proximity 
to  the  work  of  a  large  city  and  innumerable  villages. 
The  army,  however,  must  transport  these  men,  generally 
in  motor  trucks,  to  and  from  their  jobs,  or  at  least  to 
aTid  from  points  where  transport  by  electric  railway  is 
possible.  The  Spaniards,  I  am  told,  are  proving  to  be 
fairly  good  workmen.  They  are  not  under  military 
control  and  can  be  hired  and  fired  as  desired.  Their 
wages  of  11  francs  daily  is  big  money  for  them,  and 
most  of  them  seem  eager  to  hold  down  their  jobs  by 
doing  a  real  day's  work. 
This  is  not  the  case,  however,  with  some  of  the  Chinese 

[ 


labor  which  has  been  imported  into  France  and  is  under 
French  control.  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  great 
many  hundreds  of  newly  arrived  Orientals  on  French 
jobs  in  and  near  a  large  camp.  They  were  sprawled 
along  the  roadsides,  asleep,  or  squatting  in  groups,  talk- 
ing. Several  times  I  saw  these  fellows  start  out  with 
wheelbarrows  containing  one-third  of  a  real  load.  They 
would  take  a  dozen  steps,  and  then,  when  the  French 
boss  of  the  gang  had  his  back  turned,  would  flop  down 
on  their  knees,  lay  their  heads  in  the  bodies  of  their 
wheelbarrows,  and  go  to  sleep.  The  only  sign  jf  real 
activity  among  these  Chinamen  was  along  a  road- 
side where  a  gang,  presumably  on  work  of  spreading 
crushed  stone,  was  clustered  around  a  cage  containing 
two  canary  birds — which  I  suppose  were  the  mascots  of 
this  crew.  They  had  brought  the  birds  out  on  the  job 
with  them,  hung  the  cage  on  the  limb  of  a  tree,  and  were 
sitting  around  like  an  audience  at  an  open-air  theatre, 
watching  their  pets  jump  from  one  perch  to  another  ot 
the  wire  cage.  I  understand  that  there  is  some  clause 
in  the  agreement .  under  which  these  Chinese  "work" 
which  prevents  their  being  disciplined. 

After  seeing  them  in  action  I  could  appreciate  the 
humor  of  the  scene  enacted  the  next  day  in  the  office 
of  the  American  major  of  Engineers  who  has  charge 
of  our  road  work  in  the  base  section.  The  door  opened 
and  a  French  officer  entered.  After  greeting  the  major, 
he  said,  "At  last  I  can  help  you  with  labor  for  your 
road  work.    I  have  500  Chinamen  I  will  let  you  have." 

The  superintendent  of  roads  shook  his  head  in  a 
decisive,  unmistakable  negative. 

"Mon  Dieu!"  exclaimed  the  Frenchman.  "Why  do  you 
not  want  them?" 

"Mon  Dieu!"  countered  the  American.  "Why  do  you 
want  to  get  rid  of  them?" 

One  of  the  solutions  of  the  labor  problem  for  road 
work  in  the  base  sections  may  be  the  use  of  French 
refugees  from  areas  in  the  zone  of  the  armies.  A 
bureau  has  been  established  in  Paris,  and  the  plan  is 
to  organize  labor  battalions  which  will  be  paid,  housed 
and  policed  by  American  interests. 

"There  is  this  difference  between  the  road  problem 
of  the  French  and  American  armies,"  said  the  super- 
intendent of  roads  of  the  base  section.  "For  the  for- 
ward areas  the  French  have  their  special  engineer 
troops,  while  in  the  zones  of  the  rear  the  work  is 
attended  to  by  civil  organizations,  such  as  Fonts  et 
Chaussees,  and  departmental  and  vicinal  services.  The 
equivalent  of  our  own  Fonts  et  Chaussees  is  3000  miles 


d  ^^H 

d 

•^  

HKh 

PIG.    5.      FRENCH    ROAD    OF    "GRANDE    COMMUNICATIOH* 

TYPE— USE  BY  ARTILLERY  IS  PRODUCING  RUTS  AND 

HOLES  WHICH  WILL  SOON  NEED  ATTENTION 

76       ] 


away,  in  the  form  of  the  Federal  OiTice  of  Public  Rrjds 
and  the  various  state,  county  and  town  highway  bureaus. 
The  result  is  that  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces 
must  perform  work,  in  the  territory  they  take  over, 
with  their  own  roadbuilding  forces,  while  this  job  for 
ihe  French  is  done  by  an  existing  and  thoroughly  well- 
crganized  department  of  civilians,  leaving  the  army 
engineers  free  for  work  immediately  bshind  the  front. 


I'lG.  6.  7  AND  8.  WIDEN- 
ING A  NARROW  ROAD 
LEADING  INTO  AN  IM- 
PORTANT AMERICAN  AR- 
MY CAMP  —  MOTOR 
TRUCKS  DELIVER 
CRUSHED  STONE  TO  THE 
JOB,  AND  THE  STONE  IS 
SPREAD  ON  EITHER  SIDE 
OF  THE  ORIGINAL  ROAD 


th3  traffic  over  it  continues  in  a  steady  stream  all  day, 
and  sometimes  far  into  the  night,  and  there  is  no 
opportunity  for  putting  the  road  out  of  service  for 
reconstruction,  even  during  a  comparatively  short 
period.  About  the  only  thing  that  it  is  possible  to  do 
with  this  road  under  present  conditions  is  to  fill  up 
the  ruts  with  broken  stone  as  they  develop. 

On  another  rather  heavily  traveled  road  the  main- 
tenance force  in  the  base  section  accomplished  the  feat 
of  making  a  3-ft.  fill  under  traffic.  This  fill  consisted 
of  sand  and  gravel,  and  was  spread  in  thin  layers  be- 
tween the  movement  of  vehicles. 

Particularly  in  the  vicinity  of  large  American  army 
camp  centers  for  the  repair  of  machinery  and  equip- 
ment, it  has  been  necessary  to  do  a  considerable  amount 
of  road  widening.  Figs.  6,  7  and  8  give  an  idea  of 
the  problem  and  how  it  is  being  handled.  This  road 
was  originally  only  about  3  m.  wide  and  of  macadam 
construction  with  rather  thin  surfacing — too  thin,  in 
fact,  to  stand  up  under  the  motor-truck  traffic  which 
it  will  soon  have  to  bear.  The  widening  process  consists 
of  adding  about  one  meter  of  paved  surface  to  each 
shoulder,  and  putting  on  a  top  surfacing  of  about  4  in. 
Crushed  stone  for  this  job  has  been  delivered  by  motor 

trucks  as  shown  in  the 
pictures.  This  process  of 
widening  generally  is  not 
complicated  by  the  necessity 
of  providing  new  drainage 
ditches,  inasmuch  as  French 
practice  generally  places 
these  ditches  some  distance 
from  the  shoulders  of  the 
road,  leaving  space  for  ad- 
ditional paved  widths  when 
this  becomes  necessary. 

In  another  route  which 
had  to  be  resurfaced,  the 
following  scheme  of  con- 
struction has  proved  effica- 


To  get  results  equivalent  to  those  of  the  French  we 
must  look  forward  to  a  considerable  expansion  in  the 
A.merican  roadbuilding  personnel  in  the  regions  back 
from  the  advance  section." 

One  rather  difficult  job  which  the  road  service  is 
handling  is  the  maintenance  of  a  road  leading  to  our 
new  docks.  This  route  is,  in  places,  flanked  by  houses 
which  extend  flush  with  the  edges  of  the  road,  so  that 
at  some  points  there  is  no  opportunity  for  widening.  The 
traffic  of  motor  trucks  to  and  from  the  docks  is  very 
heavy,  and  all  that  can  be  done  is  to  throw  crushed 
stone  into  the  holes  which  develop  in  the  road  surface. 
In  one  place,  to  secure  better  drainage,  it  was  necessary 
to  tunnel  under  a  barn,  for  these  buildings  form  regular 
walls  along  both  sides  of  the  road,  there  being  no 
room  even  for  sidewalks.  This  road  is  particularly 
difficult  to  maintain,  because  in  addition  to  the  almost 
endless  stream  of  traffic  it  carries  it  is  frequently 
inundated  during  high  tide,  being  fairly  near  the  water. 
Under  conditions  of  lighter  traffic  the  superintendent 
•of  roads  in  the  base  section  told  me  he  would  like  to 
try  some  form  of  road  construction  other  than  mac- 
adam— ^possibly  a  concrete  road — but  inasmuch  as  this 
is  practically  the  only  route  leading  to  our  new  docks, 

[ 


^ 

•  t  it        ■-••'''' '"^IBS^MBhw^".*. 

''^Sl 

"' 

cious:  The  road  is  first  scarified,  and  upon  it  a  layer  of 
hard  blue  stone  4  in.  thick  is  spread.  For  binder 
material  there  is  added  a  thin  layer  of  soft  limestone. 
The  surface  in  this  condition  is  then  watered  and 
rolled  with  a  17-ton  roller  until  it  becomes  sloppy. 
Then  a  layer  of  sand  is  sprinkled  over  the  top  ana 
the  material  rolled  again.  When  it  dries  .out  this  form 
of  construction  makes  a  hard,  smooth  road. 
77     ] 


One  of  the  difficulties  of  the  road  work  in  this  base 
section  is  the  matter  of  securing  an  adequate  supply 
of  crushed  stone.  Plans  are  under  way  for  the  opening 
up  of  several  quarries  by  our  forces.  The  rights  for 
these  must  be  secured  from  the  French  property  owners, 
and  it  is  not  always  an  easy  task  to  reach  an  agree- 
ment on  prices,  particularly  as  the  negotiations  must 
be  conducted  in  French,  either  directly  or  through  in- 
terpreters. 

Of  course,  the  local  quarry  owners  are  losing  no 
opportunities  of  getting  as  high  prices  as  possible 
for  their  rock,  and  our  superintendent  of  roads  is 
equally  vigilant  in  his  efforts  to  secure  a  fair  price 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  American  Army.  I  hap- 
pened to  be  present  during  one  of  these  quarry-buying 
negotiations,  and  I  noted  particularly  that  the  major 
of  engineers  who  is  looking  after  our  interests  in  this 
section  has  learnt  enough  French  to  judge  of  values 
when  stated  in  francs,  and  to  say  "trop  cher"  when 
an  exorbitant  figure  is  quoted  to  him. 

In  addition  to  the  road  work  proper,  there  is  the 
matter  of  bridges.  Our  work  did  not  include  the  build- 
ing of  any  new  bridges,  for  in  this  region  there  are 
numbers  of  structures  of  all  types,  some  of  them  built 
more  than  100  years  ago.     In  walking  over  one  of  the 


oldest  bridges  (suspension  type,  250-ft.  span),  in  the 
wake  of  a  two-wheel  ox-cart,  the  floor  could  be  seen 
to  rise  and  fall  in  a  regular  wave,  and  there  was  a 
noticeable  creaking  and  swaying  of  the  bridge.  (  The 
road  superintendent  is  responsible  for  keeping  our 
troops  off  such  structures  as  he  considers  to  be  unsafe. 
Among  his  many  other  duties  he  must  examine  these 
eld  bridges  and  reach  a  decision  as  to  whether  or  not 
they  are  suitable  for  use. 

On  the  subject  of  types  of  roads  over  here  the  super- 
intendent of  roads  in  the  base  section  has  authorized 
me  to  quote  him  as  follows: 

"The  French  national  and  departmental  roads  are 
masterpieces  of  thoroughly  first-class  construction.  The 
alignment,  gradients,  curves,  drainage  and  roadbed  are 
perfection,  and  the  water-bound  macadam  surfaces  have 
been  developed  to  the  last  degree  in  both  use  of  mate- 
rials and  execution  of  the  work.  Water-bound  macadam, 
however,  has  proved  in  France,  as  in  the  United  States, 
to  be  unfit  for  heavy  motor-truck  traffic,  and  many 
millions  of  dollars  would  have  been  saved  and  much 
greater  efficiency  in  the  motor  transport  service  would 
have  resulted  had  these  loads  received  a  hard-paved 
surface  before  the  war.  This  is  the  lesson  to  be  derived 
from  an  intensive  study  of  the  roads  of  France." 


liflv; 


[     78     ] 


American  Army's  Water- Works  Projects  in  France  Number 

About  Four  Hundred 

Great  Range  in  Size  and  Character  of  Systems  of  Supply — Several  Mechanical  Filters  Under  Way- 
Laboratory  Division  Controls  Quality  of  Water 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 


THREE  HUNDRED  AND  SEVENTY-FIVE  sep- 
arate water-works  projects — ranging  in  scope  from 
the  utilization  of  a  shallow  farm  well  to  the  building 
of  a  curved  concrete  dam,  pipe  line  and  mechanical  filtra- 
tion plant — represented  the  volume  of  work  on  hand  in 
France  early  in  June  by  the  water-supply  division  of 
the  American  Expeditionary  Forces.  These  activities 
are  entirely  distinct  from  those  described  in  the  article 
"Water-Supply  at  the  Front"  in  Engineering  News- 
Record  of  May  9,  p.  892.  The  figures  given  above  indi- 
cate the  extent  of  the  program  which 'is  being  carried 
out  by  our  water-supply  engineers,  and  should  disil- 
lusionize those  to  whom  "the  front"  and  "France"  have 


taken  as  a  matter  of  course.  In  France,  however,  con- 
ditions are  vastly  different.  Water-supply  systems  with 
house  connections  are  decidedly  the  exception  in  all  but 
large  cities.  Small  towns  often  are  supplied  from  wells 
or  from  springs  by  means  of  pipe  lines  and  public  taps 
at  various  points  in  the  village  streets  or  squares. 

With  the  coming  of  the  American  Army  into  France, 
it  became  necessary  at  the  very  outset  to  prepare  an 
extensive  program  of  water-supply  for  hundreds  of  lo- 
calities. For  example,  there  are  the  cantonments,  train- 
ing areas,  railroad  yards  and  terminals,  aviation  fields, 
supply  depots,  ordnance  plants,  repair  shops  and  hos- 
pitals— to  say  nothing  of  the  big  developments  required 


I  Cotmnittee  on  Public  Information 

FIRST   AMERICAN  WATER-FILTRATION  PLANT   FOR  USE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  EXPEDITIONARY  FORCES  IN  PRANCE. 

1.  GENERAL   VIEW   OF   TANKS.      2.  PUMPING   MACHINERY 


become  synonymous  terms.  As  I  pointed  out  in  a  former 
article,  there  is,  between  the  coast  and  the  so-called 
zone  of  the  armies,  an  area  containing  hundreds  of  im- 
portant centers  of  one  sort  or  another,  all  essential 
parts  of  the  military  machine,  where  the  .services  of 
the  engineer  are  in  demand.  It  is  natural,  however, 
that  there  should  be  a  tendency  for  interest  to  focus 
upon  the  great  drama  which  is  being  played  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  No  Man's  Land  and  to  pass  by  the 
less  sensational,  but  highly  important,  activities  which 
are  being  conducted  in  the  areas  of  the  services  of 
supply. 

Troops  in  large  numbers  are  stationed  in  or  near 
French  villages  or  at  sites  which  have  been  developed 
from  farm  land  into  large  centers  of  population  since 
our  entry  into  the  war.  All  demand  water-supplies. 
Where  existing  systems  are  available,  they  are  used 
or  enlarged,  but  over  here  there  is  no  such  general 
provision  of  water-supply  systems  in  small  towns  as  in 
the  United  States.  By  the  American  at  home  the  finding 
•f  running  wate*.,  even  in  houses  of  small  towns,  is 

[     79 


at  base  ports  where,  according  to  the  official  figures 
made  public  in  July,  American  troops  were  landing  on 
French  soil  at  the  rate  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  per 
month.  It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  the  problem  of  water- 
supply  in  the  areas  back  from  the  front  is  one  of  segre 
gated  projects  in  great  number  rather  than  of  a  single 
large  project. 

An  engineer  organization  reporting  to  the  Director 
of  Construction  and  Forestry,  a  brigadier-general,  at 
the  headquarters  of  the  services  of  supply,  has  been 
formed  to  handle  the  water-supply  work.  At  its  head 
is  a  captain  of  engineers  who  was  formerly  principal 
assistant  engineer  in  charge  of  the  design  of  the  $200,- 
000,000  Catskill  aqueduct  for  New  York  City.  Assist- 
ing him  are  other  engineers,  experienced  in  the  various 
special  lines  of  water-works  construction,  filtration,  ster- 
ilization, pumping  machinery,  etc.  An  important  part 
of  the  work  is  the  control  of  the  quality  of  the  water- 
supply.  Laboratories  for  the  chemical  and  bacterial 
analysis  of  water  have  been  established  at  a  number  of 
points  and  are  under  the  control  of  a  director  of  labora- 


Present  cons+rucHon  shown  in 
solid  lines.  Possible  future 
CKPiciii-ions  shotvn  doii-ed.  Pump 
Station  dnd  Filter  House  to  be 
omitted  from  emergency  con- 
struction and  temporary  stied 
to  be  erected  over  pumps 


e'Maln         ^ 
Collector.' 
Tapped  for 
li  "Laterals 


l^^aterals  rdd  6',' 

Ends  Capped 
■§"/toles  in  dottem 


Plan     of     Underdrai  nage 


:f- 


t ^ 


Conn 
10" Filter   Sand 
-------- 6'-3"- 


wm^G^^^^^^^mi 


O    O     Q    O    0    00     OOQOOOOaO 


2"iyood-' 


Sheet- 
Jrorr 


ll 


Alternative 
Section  of 

Trouqh 
(Mot  to  Scale) 


S  e  ct-  i  o  n 


''-6" Larcje  Stones 
of      Filter 


FIGS.  1  AND  2.     DETAILS  OF  FIRST  MECHANICAL  FILTRATION  PLANT  BTTILT  BY  AMERICAN  ENGINEERS  IN  FRANCE 


*iOries  who  was  formerly  director  of  the  Illinois  State 
Water  Survey. 

All  projects  designed  to  obtain  supplies  from  navi- 
gable streams  or  to  pump  water  into  existing  French 
pipe  lines  required,  originally,  the  approval  of  the 
French  Ministry  of  War  and  also  that  of  the  local 
French  officials.  In  the  early  stages  of  the  work 
progress  was  delayed  by  the  necessity  of  attending  to  a 
great  many  formalities,  but  recently  the  procedure  has 
been  simplified,  and  in  the  matter  of  requisitions  of 
land,  permits,  etc.,  we  are  now  dealing  directly  with 
French  local  officials,  such  as  representatives  of  Fonts 
et  Chaussees,  prefects  and  mayors.  This  change  in 
practice  followed  a  request  by  the  French  Ministry  of 
War  for  the  submission  of  complete  reports  and  plans 
on  all  water-supply  projects  contemplated  for  the  use 
of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces.  With  the  lim- 
ited force  of  men  available  and  the  huge  number  of 
projects  in  hand,  the  granting  of  such  a  request  would 
have  meant  practically  the  shutting  down  of  regular 
work  for  a  good  many  weeks  to  prepare  reports  and 
wait  for  them  to  pass  through  official  channels  and 
receive  the  necessary  approval.  An  understanding  has 
been  reached  lately,  however,  whereby  cumbersome  pro- 
cedure of  this  sort  may  be  by-passed  and  our  dealings 
conducted  directly  with  the  local  authorities  in  the 
town  or  village  where  we  are  planning  to  operate. 

As  to  the  types  of  water-supply  installations  on  which 
our  engineers  are  engaged,  there  are,  first  of  all,  the 
large  hospitals.  At  most  of  the  10,000-bed  hospitals 
the  water  requirements  are  estimated  to  be  460,000  gal. 
per  day.  On  these  projects  there  are  generally  two  al- 
ternatives, pumping  from  a  river  or  obtaining  a  supply 
from  wells.  The  use  of  liquid  chlorine  for  water  steril- 
ization is  included  in  many  of  the  American  Army 
projects. 

Near  the  docks  at  one  of  our  base  sections  an  artesian 
well  700  ft.  deep  has  been  driven  and  is  yielding  about 

[ 


500,000  gal.  per  day  of  excellent  water,  requiring  no 
purification  or  sterilization. 

Railroad  water  points  must  be  established  at  frequent 
intervals.  Negotiations  are  under  way  with  the  French 
railroads  for  increasing  or  supplementing  their  supplies 
along  lines  to  be  used  by  the  American  Army.  The 
actual  needs  at  these  points  are  determined  by  the  di- 
rector general  of  transportation  and  the  work  is  then 
turned  over  to  the  director  of  construction  and  forestry 
for  whom  it  is  handled  through  the  water-supply  di- 
vision. 

One  of  the  more  elaborate  installations  has  involved 
the  construction  of  a  curved  concrete  dam  50  ft.  high 
and  a  new  mechanical  filtration  plant.  At  another  point 
an  old  French  slow  sand  filter  plant  is  being  remodelled 
as  a  rapid  filter. 

At  a  port  where  American  troops  arrive  in  large  num- 
bers it  has  been  necessary  to  supplement  the  existing 
water-supply  by  pumping  from  a  river  800,000  gal.  daily. 
The  pumping  station  has  been  installed  and  600  ft.  of 
10-in.  pipe  and  2200  ft.  of  8-in.  pipe  laid.  Sterilization 
here  is  by  means  of  liquid  chlorine.  The  French  require- 
ments as  to  the  quality  of  water  which  we  introduce  into 
their  mains  are  very  high — no  b.  coli  in  one  liter.  Wit^ 
the  liquid  chlorine  sterilization  methods  in  use,  we  have 
been  successful  in  meeting  these  requirements  by  ap- 
plying a  heavy  dose  of  liquid  chlorine  and,  later,  de- 
chlorinating  with  a  thiosulphate  solution. 

The  first  filtration  plant  built  in  France  by  American 
engineers  is  situated  at  an  aviation  production  center, 
and  its  general  features  are  shown  by  Figs.  1  and  2. 
It  supplies  about  100,000  gal.  of  water  per  day  (and 
may  ultimately  be  enlarged  to  a  capacity  of  500,000 
gal.  daily),  and  it  consists  of  an  8-ft.  wooden  tank  con- 
taining about  30  in.  of  sand  and  from  12  to  15  in.  ot 
graded  gravel.  The  main  collector  is  a  6-in.  pipe  tappsd 
for  2i-in.  laterals.  It  was,  of  course,  impossible  to  se- 
cure strainers,  so  holes  were  drilled  at  6-in.  interv?/"^ 

80     ]  ,  - 


in  the  under  side  of  the  lateral  collectors.  The  annular 
wash-water  trough  is  made  of  old  biscuit  tins.  For 
cleaning  the  filter  sand  a  straight  water  wash  is  em- 

6"Di5chcirqe  above 

6  Wash  Wafer  be/otv  "'Ari 


Knowles,  consulting  engineer,  Pittsburgh.  Speaking  oj 
the  design  of  this  first  filter  plant  and  other  water 
works  projects,  he  summed  up  the  situation  about  ii 


i'4"Var/ve' 


Bushing 


FIG.    3. 


Elevation   of*  Wash 
Wa+er    Shield 
ONE   OP   THE   LARGER  CONCRETE   WATER-PlLTRATION  PROJECTS  ON  WHICH  THE  AMERICAN  ARMY 

ENGINEERS  ARE  AT  WORK  IN  FRANCE 


ployed,  the  velocity  of  the  upward  flow  being  about  2 
ft.  per  minute. 

In  this  plant  the  raw  water  is  pumped  from  a  river, 
and  first  passes  through  a  circular  sedimentation  tank 
with  a  vertical  baffle.  The  coagulant  is  an  alum  solu- 
tion applied  at  the  suction  lift  at  the  rate  of  2  grains 
per  gallon.  The  clear-water  basin  is  concrete-lined,  and 
wash-water  is  taken  care  of  in  a  wooden  tank  whose  bot- 
tom is  elevated  about  30  ft.  above  that  of  the  filter  floor. 
The  filter  effluent  is  treated  with  liquid  chlorine. 

One  of  the  novel  features  of  this  plant  is  the  pump- 
ing layout.  Both  the  low-lift  and  the  high-lift  centrif- 
ugal pumps  are  driven  by  the  same  motor  by  means 
of  belting  and  pulleys  from  a  single  shaft.  The  high- 
lift  pump  works  against  a  head,  including  friction  in 
the  distribution  system,  of  160  feet. 

The  engineer  officer  who  had  immediate  charge  of 
this    project    was    formerly    on    the    staff    of    Morris 


these  words:  "We  must  work  with  the  materials  a^ 
hand — not  with  what  we  might  like  to  order  in  norma 
times,  but  with  what  we  can  get  quickly.  The  procedurf 
in  design  resolves  itself  into  these  steps:  Get  a  copj 
of  the  stock  list  of  materials  at  the  storage  yards  ii 
France,  see  that  machinery,  pipe  and  fittings  are  avail 
i.ble  and  prepare  a  design  which  will  fit  them  together.' 
A  more  elaborate  filtration  project  is  one  serving  { 
large  hospital  site,  which  is  supplied  from  a  120,000, 
000-gal.  reservoir  formed  by  a  curved  concrete  dan 
about  50  ft.  high.  From  the  dam  a  6-in.  pipe  line  de 
livers  by  gravity  to  a  float  chamber  at  the  end  of  th( 
coagulating  basin.  The  water  for  this  plant  has  lov 
alkalinity  and  it  is  necessary  to  apply  both  soda  asl 
and  alum.  The  tank  inlet  is  a  concrete  trough.  The  un 
usual  feature  is  that  this  trough  is  filled  with  larg< 
stones  which  serve  as  baffles  and  cause  a  thorough  mix 
ture  of  the  chemical  solutions  with  the  raw  water  befor< 


[    81     ] 


entry  into  the  coagulating  basin.  The  latter  is  fitted 
with  two  baffle  walls,  as  shown  in  the  drawing,  and 
the  floor  inclines  toward  a  pump  and  blow  off. 

While  the  design  (Fig.  3)  provides  for  four  me- 
chanical filter  units,  with  a  combined  capacity  of  about 
330,000  gal.  daily,  only  two  of  these  units  are  being 
equipped  at  present.  Each  filter  tank  measures  4i  x 
461  ft.  and  contains  30  in.  of  sand  and  18  in.  of  gravel. 
The  collector  system  is,  in  type,  the  same  as  that  used  at 
the  aviation  production  center  plant  previously  noted. 
The  header  is  a  6-in.  pipe  into  which  1-in.  laterals,  per- 
forated with  holes  on  the  under  side,  are  tapped.  The 
filtered  water  is  sterilized  with  liquid  chlorine  applied 
on  the  suction  lift  line  of  the  pumps  delivering  to  the 
distribution  system. 

'The  filter  effluent  passes  through  rate  controllers  of 
the  type  shown  in  one  of  the  details  of  the  drawings. 
These  maintain  a  fixed  head  on  pairs  of  2i-in.  orifices, 
the  latter  discharging  into  the  clear-water  basin. 

The  chemical  feed  control  is  another  detail  that  should 
be  noted.  It  is  of  a  very  simple  type — a  constant-head 
tank  discharging  through  a  flexible  tube,  the  elevation  of 
whose  orifice  end  may  be  varied  by  the  series  of  steel 
pin  supports  shown. 

Another  water-supply  and  purification  project  at  an 
important  base  point  has  involved  the  creation  of  1,500,- 
000,000-gal.  storage  capacity  in  reservoirs  15  miles  from 
an  existing  French  slow  sand  filtration  plant.  This 
water  is  delivered  about  10  miles  of  the  distance  by 
canals,  and  the  remaining  5  miles  by  a  24-in.  cast-iron 
pipe  line  laid  on  the  ground  surface.  The  old  filter 
plant  is  being  remodeled  into  a  rapid  mechanical  filter. 
Before  the  pipe  line  was  completed,  it  was  necessary — 
SO  heavily  was  the  existing  plant  capacity  taxed — to 
bring  water  in  tank  boats  to  a  point  where  it  could 
be  pumped  into  the  reservoir  supplying  the  old  filter 
plant.  The  remodeled  filters  will  have  an  output  of 
3,000,000  gal.  daily. 

Other  Water-Supply  Projects 

Other  places  at  which  water-supply  projects  are  com- 
pleted, under  construction  or  contemplated  are  the  en- 
gine terminals  and  yards,  the  depots  and  repair  shops, 


the  remount  stations  where  large  numbers  of  horses  art 
stabled,  the  aviation  and  the  motor-truck  assembly  and 
repair  centers.  From  these  places  demands  for  a  supply 
of  water  come,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  water-supply 
division  to  investigate  the  needs  and  design  the  works. 
Construction  is  generally  carried  out  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  commanding  officer  at  the  place  where  the 
works  are  to  be  installed.  In  a  general  way,  the  water- 
supply  division  performs  a  triple  role — state  department 
of  health,  consulting  engineer  and  purchasing  agent. 

Not  the  smallest  of  its  tasks  is  the  obtaining  and  dis- 
tributing of  water-works  supplies.  From  scores  of 
places  come  calls  for  pipe,  fittings,  pumps,  motors. 
Before  the  work  of  allocating  these  materials  was  con- 
trolled, it  sometimes  happened  that  one  locality  would 
attempt  to  "corner"  the  available  supply  of  cast-iron 
pipe  by  direct  requisition  on  the  storage  depots,  leaving 
other  water-works  projects  at  a  standstill  for  lack  of 
supplies.  Someone  would  hear  that  "they  have  just  re- 
ceived some  pumps  down  at "  and  the  result  was  a 

rush  to  get  there  first  and  bring  them  back  home.  This 
method  of  scrambling  for  water-works  supplies  has  been 
eliminated  by  compelling  all  requisitions  to  pass  through 
the  headquarters  office  of  the  water-supply  division. 
One  engineer  spends  all  his  time  examining  these 
requisitions  and  assigning  the  available  stock  where  it 
is  most  urgently  needed.  Of  course,  there  is  generally 
not  enough  to  go  round.  Then,  too,  requisitions  often 
call  for  an  excessive  amount  of  material,  the  canny 
man  at  the  other  end  of  the  line  having  evidently  de- 
cided to  put  by  something  for  the  future.  The  result 
is  that  the  engineer  who  allocates  the  material,  snip- 
ping off  items  here,  canceling  whole  requisitions  there, 
is  probably  the  most  cussed-out  individual  in  France 
today. 

It  is  necessary  for  the  water-supply  division  to  look 
far  ahead  as  to  its  needs.  At  the  present  writing  its 
forecasts  are  completed  up  to  April,  1919,  and  a  regu- 
lar schedule  of  priority  for  transatlantic  shipment  of 
material  has  been  prepared.  The  method  of  requisitions 
for  material  to  be  placed  in  stock  on  wharves  in  Amer- 
ica, with  monthly  tonnage  priority  cables,  appears  to 
be  the  only  practical  way  to  handle  the  matter,  accord- 
ing to  the  chief  of  the  division. 


82 


Army  Motor  Trucks  Carry  Water  Purification  Plant 

Provided  with  Mechanical  Filter,  Chlorinating  Apparatus  and  Testing 
Laboratory,  They  Insure  Safe  Water  for  Troops  , 

By  ROBEJiT  K.  TOMLIN,  Jr. 
"Weir  Correspondent  of   Engineering   News-Record 


FOR  emergency  filtration,  sterilization  and  analysis 
of  wi»,*;er  supplied  to  American  troops  at  the  front 
in  France,  specially  designed  mobile  plants,  mounted  on 
standard  motor  trucks,  have  been  placed  in  service.  The 
first  outfits  of  this  sort  were  sent  to  a  division  in  an 
American  sector  early  in  June.  They  are  the  forerun- 
ners of  others  which,  it  is  planned,  will  be  used  pretty 


tively  large  scale,  to  the  special  needs  of  Army  service, 
the  features  of  the  new  outfits  being  mobility  and  such 
compactness  in  arrangement  that  a  complete  water 
purification  plant  and  analytical  laboratory  are  carried 
on  the  chassis  of  a  3-ton  truck. 

There  are  at  the  present  time  three  different  types 
of  these  motor-truck  plants.    The  first  is  known  as  the 


ALL.  THE   STERI-LAB   EQUIPMENT   IS  COMPACTLY  ARRANGED  AND  CARRIED   ON   A   THREE-TON   TRUCK 


generally  by  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  for 
producing  temporary  supplies  of  potable  water  pending 
the  creation  of  the  more  or  less  permanent  "water 
points"  which  present  military  engineering  practice  has 
developed  for  the  advance  zones.  While  they  embody  no 
principles  of  water  treatment  which  have  not  been  em- 
ployed for  years  past  in  the  United  States,  the  portable 
plants  are  nevertheless  unique  in  so  far  as  sanitary 
engineering  practice  of  the  allied  armies  is  concerned. 
They  represent  an  ingenious  adaptation  of  standard 
American  methods  of  water  purification,  on  a  ccmpara- 

[     83 


"Steri-Lab"  and  comprises  a  pump,  a  pressure  filter,  a 
chlorinating  apparatus  and  a  laboratory.  The  second, 
the  "Chloro-Pumping"  outfit,  is  like  the  first,  except  that 
it  carries  no  pressure  filter,  and  has  a  pump  of  greater 
capacity  than  the  "Steri-Lab."  The  third  is  essentially 
a  laboratory  on  wheels  for  the  chemical  and  bacterial 
analysis  of  water.  These  mobile  plants  were  designed 
and  equipped  by  the  Wallace  &  Tiernan  Co.,  Inc.,  of  New 
York,  working  in  collaberation  with  officers  of  the  Corps 
of  Engineers. 

The  details  of  the  "Steri-Lab"  truck  are  shown  in  the 

] 


..THIOSULPH/)TE 

'  DECHL0RJN/ITIN6 

.■,apP/lRATUS 


CHLORINE  y 
SOLUTION  VALVE 


Eieva+\on 

SIDE    ELEVATION    AND    PLAN    STIOW    DETAIL    OF    MOBILE  WATER   PURIFICATION    PLANT 


accompanying  drawing  and  photographs.  At  the  rear 
end  is  a  gasoline-driven  pump  of  the  double-acting  pis- 
ton type  with  a  rated  capacity  of  20  gal.  per  minute 
which  may  be  operated  against  a  pressure  of  100  lb.  per 
square  inch.  It  is  equipped  with  50  ft.  of  2-in.  hose, 
foot-valve  and  strainer.  The  pump  delivers  direct  to  a 
Roberts  mechanical  filter  of  the  pressure  type,  a  30-in. 
diameter  vertical  tank  mounted  over  the  rear  axle.  This 
filter  has  a  hand  agitator  and  is  fitted  with  an  alum  pot. 
An  alum  storage  bin  is  mounted  over  the  right  rear 
wheel  of  the  truck. 

Chlorine  gas  is  applied  at  the  pump  suction,  and  th< 
dose  generally  is  much  heavier  than  that  employed  ii: 
ordinary  municipal  water-works  practice.  It  may  vary 
from  4.5  to  as  much  as  10  parts  per  million.  A  contact 
period  of  from  10  to  15  minutes  is  afforded  by  cylin- 
drical tanks  mounted  under  the  work  bench  of  the  lab 
oratory  compartment  of  the  outfit.  With  such  an  inten- 
sive application  of  chlorine,  which  is  adopted  to  insure 
absolute  safety  in  the  quality  of  the  treated  water,  it 
will  frequently  be  necessary  to  dechlorinate  with  a  thio- 
sulphate  solution  applied  through  an  adjustable  sight 
feed     The  chlorine  is  carried  in  105-lb.  cylinders.     To 


a  large  extent  our  water-supply  sterilization  will  be  car- 
ried on  with  chlorine  obtained  from  the  gas  service  ot 
the  American  Expeditionary  Forces. 

The  filtered  and  sterilized  water  passes  either  to  a 
discharge  valve,  where  it  can  be  fed  to  tank  carts  or 
stationary  storage,  or  it  may  be  left  in  the  contact  tanks 
for  storage  there.  These  four  tanks  have  a  capacity  of 
30  gal.  each,  and  are  tested  for  a  pressure  of  100  lb.  per 
square  inch. 

The  forward  part  of  the  truck  body  is  occupied  by  the 
testing  laboratory.  This  room  is  completely  inclosed, 
and  provided  with  a  door  from  the  rear  and  wire-glass 
windows  en  the  side.  It  is  completely  equipped  as  a 
water-testing  laboratory,  with  working  bench,  wash 
sink,  water  under  pressure  through  faucets,  hot  air 
sterilizer  for  sterilizing  glassware,  autoclave,  bottle  and 
instrument  rack,  and  a  full  line  of  laboratory  utensils. 
The  laboratory  will  be  used  to  test  waters  before  and 
after  treatment  and  for  such  tests  as  are  required  on 
other  occasions. 

This  type  of  machine  will  be  able  to  sterilize  1200  gal. 
of  water  per  hour  when  operating  through  its  full  sys- 
te*"",  A  bypass  is  providod  around  the  filter,  so  that  if 
84     ] 


CORNER  OP  WATER  ANALYSIS  LABORATORY— PUMPING  PLANT,  PRESSURE  FILTER  AND  DECHLORINATOR 


a  water  supply  is  encountered  which  does  not  require 
filtration  to  remove  turbidity  and  color,  but  simply  chlo- 
rination  to  make  the  water  bacteriologically  safe,  the 
capacity  may  be  increased. 

The  second  type  of  mobile  plant,  or  "Chloro-Pumping" 
outfit,  is  carried  on  a  li-  instead  of  a  3-ton  truck.  Here 
there  is  no  pressure  filter.  The  pump  has  a  capacity 
(40  gal.  per  minute)  double  that  of  the  "Steri-Lab" 
machine.  This  outfit  is  designed  for  emergency  work 
during  an  advance  or  a  retreat  where  filtration  may  be 


dispensed  with.  The  chlorinating  and  thiosulphate  ap- 
paratus is  of  the  same  kind  as  that  previously  described. 
The  "laboratory,"  or  third,  type  of  truck  is  also  car- 
ried on  a  li-ton  chassis.  It  is  fitted  with  the  usual 
equipment  for  making  chemical  and  bacteriological  ex- 
aminations of  water.  All  racks  and  cases  are  felt-lined 
to  prevent  glass  breakage.  Water  for  laboratory  use  is 
contained  in  a  tank  fitted  with  a  hand  air  pump  to  supply 
pressure.  On  this  truck  will  be  carried  a  bicycle  for  the 
use  of  the  laboratory  assistant  in  collecting  samples. 


[     85     ] 


Army  Intermediate  Depot  in  France  Problem  in 
Getting  Labor  and  Supplies 

Project  Covers  Site  Six  Miles  Long — Three  Types  of  Warehouse  Are  Being  Built — Chinese  Labor  Used 
on  Railway  Grading — Installation  Completed  for  Storing  5000  Tons  of  Beef  at  Zero  Temperature 

By  Robert  K.  Tomlin,  Jr. 

War  Correspondent  of  Engineering  News-Record 
Photographs  not  otherwise  indicated  are  from  Committee  on^  Public  Information. 


TO  PROVIDE  storage  and  railroad  yard  facilities 
at  a  point  midway  betwen  the  front  line  trenches 
and  the  United  States  Army  seacoast  bases  in  France 
where  supplies  and  equipment  are  unloaded,  engineer 
troops,  assisted  by  labor  units  of  several  nationalities 
and  German  prisoners,  have  partially  completed  the 
construction  of  what  will  be,  eventually,  the  largest  of 
the  so-called  "depots"  for  the  American  Expeditionary 


WJIREHOUSES 
SCO 


Sec+ior»  I 


Sec+'ior»  t 


Seo+'ion  3 


PIG.  1.     SKETCH  SHOWS  TYPICAL.  LAYOUT  OF  WARE- 
HOUSE SECTION  OF  ARMY  INTERMEDIATE  DEPOT 

Forces.  This  is  the  intermediate  depot,  where  reserve 
stores  for  the  engineer,  quartermaster,  medical,  signal, 
ordnance  and  the  various  other  special  services  of  the 
Army  are  delivered,  held  until  needed,  and  then  shipped 
to  points  of  use. 

In  previous  articles,  on  the  advance  depot  and  the 
docks,  storage  and  railroad  yards  at  one  of  our  base 
sections,  I  have  outlined  the  general  purpose  and  re- 
lation to  one  another  of  the  several  "depots"  for  our 
overseas  supplies.  It  is,  therefore,  unnecessary  to  go 
into  details  as  to  the  function  of  the  intermediate  de- 
pot. Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  is,  in  effect,  a  vast  storage 
and  regulating  reservoir  of  materials  of  all  sorts  upon 
which  the  draft  from  day  to  day  varies,  depending  upon 
the  needs  at  the  front  and  at  other  places  in  France 
where  American  army  activities  are  under  way. 

The  intermediate  depot  must  be  equipped  to  meet 
hurry  calls  for  almost  anything  in  the  form  of  food  or 
supplies.  On  the  heels  of  a  requisition  for  canned  beans 
in  car-load  lots  may  come  a  demand  for  a  shipment  of 
cast-iron  pipe,  specials,  and  valves  for  a  water-supply 
project.  To  meet  such  demands  involves  the  provision 
of  millions  of  square  feet  of  covered  and  open  storage 
and  the  creation  of  railway  yard  facilities  for  deliver- 
ing and  taking  away  the  almost  endless  variety  of 
products  called  for  by  the  war  program  upon  which 
we  are  engaged.  Aside  from  its  tremendous  size  the 
.intermediate  depot  is  unique  in  that  it  contains  the  larg- 

[ 


est  refrigerating  plant  in  France — a  plant  with  a  ca- 
pacity of  storing  at  a  temperature  of  0°  F.  5000  tons 
of  fresh  beef. 

Even  over  here  in  France  it  is  hard  to  visualize  the 
vast  extent  of  the  construction  program  which  our  en- 
gineers have  laid  out,  and  of  which  the  intermediate 
depot,  though  a  big  project,  is  only  a  part.  One  journeys 
from  place  to  place  between  the  seacoast  and  the  front, 
and  all  along  the  line  the  work  of  the  engineer  is  in 
evidence.  I  have  covered  by  railway,  motor  car  and 
"hiking"  a  good  many  thousand  miles  since  I  landed 
in  France,  and  even  to-day  there  are  many  sites  where 
construction  is  in  full  swing  which  I  have  not  visited. 
There  are  others,  too,  I  will  venture  to  say,  of  whose 
very  existence  I  am  ignorant — and  this  in  spite  of 
fairly  steady  contact  for  six  months  with  engineer  of- 
ficers grading  in  rank  from  second  lieutenant  to  major 
general.  The  thing  is  appallingly  big  to  "cover"  in 
any  comprehensive  way.  We  can  pick  out  jobs  here 
and  there  for  description,  in  an  attempt  to  give  our 
engineers  in  America  some  idea  of  the  main  types  of 
construction  which  our  technical  troops  in  France  are 
doing,  but  under  present  conditions  it  would  take  a 
sizable  staff  of  men  to  record  in  adequate  fashion  the 


FIG.   2. 


WOOD-FRAME    WAREHOUSE    HAS    HOLLOW 
TILE  WALLS 


engineering  work  which  is  being  done  for  the  Amer- 
ican Expeditionary  Forces. 

Take  for  example  the  single  project  of  the  interme- 
diate depot.  In  plan  it  is  a  diamond-shaped  layout 
6i  miles  long  and  11  miles  wide.  The  plans  provide  for 
more  than  200  warehouse  buildings,  each  about  500  ft. 
long  and  50  ft.  wide.  These  dimensions  are  only  approx- 
imate, for  there  are  buildings  of  several  different  types, 
but,  on  the  average,  they  are  of  about  the  size  indicated. 
Coupled  with  the  building  construction  is  the  matter  of 
laying  about  225  miles  of  railway  track  to  serve  the 
warehouses. 

With  the  exception  of  the  refrigerating  plant,  how- 
ever, the  depot  problem  presents  nothing  difficult  in 
the  matter  of  engineering  design.  The  wooden  buildings 
86     ] 


Purlins  ly$  where 
Sheets  Iap;l'k4- 
iejisewhere         ,  ^ 

I      \ 


Corruqatecf 
Sheafh/ng';. 


^7:'^7?^WiW^^^^^-^r-^ 


B/ocks  /Bx/Sx3 
or  ecfuiyer/err^ 


f'IG.    3.      TYPipAL  CROSS-SECTION  OP  "WAREHOUSE    SHED 

are  of  extremely  simple  types,  and  the  railroad  yard 
grading  and  track  layir;?  has  been  principally  a  job  of 
obtaining  materials  and  handling  labor,  rather  than  one 
of  elaborate  technical  dt  tail.  This  does  not  mean  that 
the   work  has  proceeded   in  any  haphazard  way,  but 


As  to  the  layout  of  the  warehouses  and  the  tracks 
the  plan  shows  the  work  divided  into  five  sections,  four 
of  these  being  parallel  )dnaa  running  in  an  east  and 
west  direction,  and  the  fifth  extending  diagonally  along 
the  western  ends  of  the  others.  In  addition,  there  is  a 
special  yard  for  the  storage  of  engineer  material.  Be- 
tween pairs  of  parallel  east  and  west  track  the  ware- 
houses, generally  in  groups  of  three,  are  placed  end  to 
end  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  sketch  (Fig.  1). 
At  the  time  of  my  visit  ^arly  in  June  there  had  been 
laid  about  60  miles  of  track,  and  80  warehouse  buildings, 
were  finished.  During  the  early  stages  of  the  job  about 
15  miles  of  rail  had  to  be  obtained  from  the  French,  but 
at  the  present  writing  80-lb.  steel  rail  from  the  states  is. 
being  employed  exclusively.  The  same  situation  ex- 
isted in  the  case  of  wooden  ties  but  now,  with  the  work 
of  our  forestry  service  speeding  up  the  production  of 
lumber  from  local  sources,  the  tie  shortage  is  being 
relieved. 

The  grading  of  the  railway  yards  has  been  done 
both  with  small  hand  tools,  pick,  shovel  and  wheel- 
barrow, and  with  the  aid  of  heavier  plant  such  as  loco- 
motive cranes  and  clamshell  buckets,  and  road  graders 


FIG.  4, 


ENDS  OF  WOOD-FRAME  WAREHOUSES  ARE  SHEATHED  WITH  CORRUGATED  IRON  BUT  SIDES  HAVE  ONLY 

CANVAS  COVERS 


rather  that  it  has  been  studied  with  a  view  to  elim- 
inating anything  savoring  of  "fancy"  engineering  or 
construction.  The  main  large-scale  map  of  the  yard 
layout,  for  example,  is  one  on  which  all  unnecessary 
draftsmanship  has  been  omitted.  It  is  a  straight 
"working"  drawing.  Tacked  down  upon  the  rough 
plank  table  in  the  shack  which  serves  as  the  head- 
quarters of  the  commanding  oificer  of  the  engineer 
troops  and  his  principal  assistants,  the  paper  has  been 
worn  through  in  spots  by  the  elbows  of  the  men  who 
have  to  consult  it  regularly  and  mark  up  progress. 
No  one  has  had  time  to  make  a  new  drawing.  The 
holes  in  the  old  one  are  patched  up  with  adhesive  tape 
as  they  develop,  and  the  work  goes  on. 


hauled  by  caterpillar  tractors.  The  labor  represents 
many  nationalities.  In  addition  to  our  own  service  bat- 
talions there  are  large  gangs  of  Chinese  on  the  job. 
While  the  site  of  the  yards  is  fairly  flat,  large  areas 
were  originally  covered  with  brush  and  small  trees, 
necessitating  a  considerable  amount  of  grubbing.  On 
this  work  of  clearing  and  grubbing,  as  well  as  that  of 
digging  drainage  ditches  and  grading  the  earth  floors 
of  the  warehouses,  the  Chinese  were  used.  Labor  of 
higher  grade,  both  negro  and  while,  was  reserved  for 
the  more  difficult  jobs  of  track  laying  and  ballasting. 
However,  a  few  of  the  Chinamen  were  employed  on  tasks 
demanding  some  degree  of  mechanical  skill;  for  ex- 
ample, in  assembling  a  few  road  graders  and  concrete 


PIG.   5.     STEEL  FRAME  WAREHOUSES  ARE  SIMPLE  IN  APPEARANCE 

[    87     J 


mixers.  The  major  of  engineers  who  made  this  ex- 
periment told  me  that  the  Orientals  became  intensely- 
interested  in  putting  together  the  parts  of  American 
machinery,  and  often  they  worked  hours  overtime  tin- 
kering with  the  equipment  which  had  been  entrusted 
to  them. 

The  track  layout  of  the  yard  involves  the  provision 
of  two  humps  and  two  separate  groups  of  receiving, 
classification  and  departure  yards,  one  for  east-bound 


ing  operations  and  stripped  of  their  bark.  The  ends  of 
each  warehouse  are  sheathed  with  corrugated  iron 
sheets,  as  shown  in  Fig.  4.  The  sides  are  not  sheathed. 
As  a  means  of  protection  for  the  material  placed  beneath 
this  form  of  shelter  large  sheets  of  canvas  are  hung 
from  a  point  beneath  the  eaves  and  extend  down  to  the 
ground  level,  as  shown  in  the  picture.  On  this  job,  as 
on  all  others  which  have  been  undertaken  by  our  en- 
gineer troops  in  France,  scarcity  of  materials  was  one 


FIG.  6.     ONE  OF  THE  VERY  I^ARGE  STEEL  FRAME  WAREHOUSES  SHEATHED  WITH  CORRUGATED  IRON 


and  the  other  for  west-bound  traffic.  The  hump  starts 
v/ith  a  4-per  cent  grade  which  is  eased  off  in  100-ft. 
stretches  to  1  per  cent.  Among  the  accessory  structures 
for  the  railway  yard  are  engine  sheds,  coaling  stations, 
inspection  and  repair  pits. 

For  the  warehouses  there  are  three  different  types 
of  structure:  (1)  wood  frame  with  open  sides  and 
corrugated  iron  roofing;  (2)  steel  frame  entirely 
sheathed  with  corrugated  iron;  (3)  wood  frame  with 
walls  of  hollow  clay  tile  or  cement  blocks.     The  steel 


of  the  conditions  which  we  had  to  face.  As  one  of 
the  majors  of  an  engineer  regiment  at  the  intermediate 
depot  expressed  it  to  me,  "Our  principal  difficulty  has 
been  to  put  the  job  through  using  only  about  one-half 
the  original  bill  of  material." 

In  the  sketch  showing  a  typical  cross-section  of  a 
warehouse  shed  (Fig.  3),  it  will  be  noted  that  the  sizes 
of  the  various  members  are  given.  This  means  that 
such  sizes  are  used  when  they  are  available,  which  is 
not  always  the  case.    In  this  type  of  warehouse  no  roof 


PIG.  7.     GRADING  DONE  BY  AMERICAN  ROAD  GRADER  HAULED  BY  CATERPILLAR,   SHOWN  ON  LEFT,  AND  ROAD 

ROLLED  BY  AMERICAN  MACHINE,  IN  VIEW  AT  RIGHT 


and  the  clay-tile  warehouses  are  used  to  store  sup- 
plies which  would  be  damaged  by  wetting,  such  as 
flour  and  sugar  in  sacks.  The  open  wood-frame  houses, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  suitable  for  the  storage  of  canned 
or  boxed  goods.  The  steel-frame  structures  serve  as 
fire-stops,  being  interposed  here  and  there  between  the 
wooden  structures. 

The  wood-frame  warehouse  is  merely  a  shed  formed 
by  timber  bents  and  corrugated  roofing,  as  shown  in 
Fig.  3.  Most  of  the  posts  are  young  pine  trees,  6  in. 
or  less  in  diameter,  obtained  on  the  site  during  the  clear- 


truss  is  employed.  The  rafters,  2  x  5  in.  in  section,  are 
kneebraced  to  the  vertical  posts.  It  is  practically  im- 
possible to  obtain  in  France  to-day  long  timber,  and 
in  the  case  of  the  warehouse  rafters  a  splice  is  intro- 
duced as  shown.  The  purlins  are  spaced  on  3  ft.  centers 
and  are  usually  of  very  light  material.  The  corrugated 
roofing  is  nailed  to  them. 

Many  of  the  storage  warehouses  at  the  other  depots 
of  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces  in  France  are 
raised  above  the  ground  level  on  posts,  or  are  provided 
with  depressed  railroad  track  along  both  the  incoming 

'     ] 


(<- 3B7-r- 

FIG.   8.     LAYOUT  OF  THE  HUGE  REFRIGPJRATING  PLANT  BUILT  BY  AMERICAN  SOLDIERS  IN  HEART  OF  FRANCT! 


and  outgoing  platforms,  thus  making  the  warehouse 
floor  level  the  same  as  that  of  the  freight  car.  In 
the  case  of  the  present  wood-frame  warehouses  at  the 
intermediate  depot  this  practice  has  not  been  followed; 
^s  a  general  rule,  there  is  no  flooring  other  than  the 
earth  at  the  original  ground  level.  In  some  cases,  logs 
are  placed  on  the  earth  floor  in  parallel  rows  to  raise 
cases  of  goods  a  few  inches  above  the  ground. 

More  substantial  types  of  warehouse  are  shown  in 
Figs.  5  and  6.  Those  of  the  hollow-tile  type  were  built 
for  us  by  French  contractors.  In  the  steel-frame  type 
of  warehouse  all  connertions  are  bolted  rather  than 
riveted,  and  the  structure  is  sheathed  on  roof,  ends  and 
sides  with  corrugated  iron. 

The  first  lumber  for  the  warehouse  construction  came 
from  the  United  States,  but  since  these  early  shipments 
a  certain  quantity  has  been  secured  from  Swiss  and 
French  sources  and  from  American  forestry  regiments. 
As  a  general  rule,  about  five  warehouses  of  the  wood- 
frame  type  are  under  construction  at  one  time,  and  to 
each  building  a  gang  of  60  or  70  men  is  assigned. 
Portable  saw-rigs  have  been  used  for  the  framing  work 
and  have  proved  decidedly  useful.  Very  little  concrete 
is  used  on  this  job,  the  principal  demand  for  it  being 
at  the  refrigerating  plant,  in  the  footings  for  the  col- 
umns of  the  steel-frame  warehouses  and  for  the  in- 
spection and  engine  pits  for  the  railroad  yard. 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  the  intermediate  depot, 
\varehouses  of  the  three  different  types,  wood-frame, 
steel-frame  and  wood-frame  with  hollow-tile  walls,  had 
been  built  and  were  in  service.  About  25  locomotives 
were  being  used  on  the  railway  yard  operation  and  con- 
struction, and  shipments  in  large  volume  were  being 
received,  stored  or  routed  for  the  front.  One  of  the 
depot's  biggest  days  occurred  on  June  13,  when  520 
cars  were  loaded  and  hauled  out. 

A  very  large  labor  force  has  been  required  on  the 
depot  construction  work.  I  was  told  that  the  force,  at 
times,  has  exceeded  10,000  men.  Of  course,  this  number 
does  not  remain  constant.  The  situation  over  here  is 
one  that  is  characterized  by  shifting,  sometimes  sud- 
den, of  units  from  one  place  to  another.  For  example, 
the  work  at  the  intermediate  depot  was  begun  by  one 
of  the  regiments  of  railway  engineers  which  were  among 
the  first  to  arrive  in  France  a  year  ago.    A  few  of  them, 

[ 


principally  officers  serving  in  administrative  capacities 
or  as  superintendents  of  big  labor  gangs,  are  still  on 
the  job.  The  rank  and  file,  however  have  left  for  other 
parts.  While  a  great  deal  of  the  grading  work  for  the 
railroad  yards  has  been  done  by  hand  labor,  mechanical 
plant  is  to  be  seen  at  work  here  and  there.  For  ex- 
ample,  in  one   section   the  roadbed   for  the  track  is 


FIG.   9.     SECRETARY  BAKER  AND  GENERAL  PERSHING  IW 
FRONT    OF   BOILERS    OF    REFRIGERATING    PLANT 


being  formed  with  a  road  grader  hauled  by  a  cater- 
pillar tractor  (Fig.  7).  The  method  is  to  make  two 
cuts,  one  on  either  side  of  the  center  line,  thus  form- 
ing ditches,  and  at  the  same  time  throwing  the  material 
into  subgrade  where  it  is  levelled  off  by  hand  prior  to 
the  placing  of  the  ties.  A  certain  amount  of  road  build- 
ing is  required  at  the  intermediate  depot.  One  of  the 
views  in  Fig.  7  shows  a  gasoline  roller  which  was  put 
to  work  as  soon  as  it  had  been  received  from  the  United 
States. 

One  of  the  features  of  the  intermediate  depot  is  the 

big  refrigerating  and  ice-making  plant  which  has  been 

in  operation  since  May  2.    It  serves  as  a  cold-storage 

house  for  meat  and  other  perishable  products  required 

89     ] 


FIG.  10.     REFRIGERATING  PLANT  UNDER  CONSTRUCTION  LAST  WINTER 


by  the  Army,  and  was  designed  originally  to  have  a  ca- 
pacity of  5000  tons  of  frozen  meat  at  a  temperature 
of  12°  F.,  in  addition  to  the  production  of  500  tons  of 
ice  daily.  The  first  plans  have  been  altered  to  some 
extent  as  regards  the  temperature  in  the  cold-storage 
rooms.  In  order  to  obviate  the  necessity  of  icing  the 
railway  cars  in  which  the  meat  is  transported  from  the 
refrigerating  plant  to  the  front,  a  lower  temperature 
than  that  originally  contemplated  is  being  maintained 
in  the  cold-storage  rooms.  During  my  visit  to  the  plant 
the  thermometer  indicated  1°  below  zero.  By  main- 
taining this  zero  temperature — which  is  the  present 
operating  practice — meat  can  be  delivered  to  points  of 
consumption  without  the  use  of  iced  cars. 

The  refrigerating  plant  consists  of  a  group  of  12 
principal  buildings,  some  of  which  are  of  the  following 
sizes:  beef  storage,  112  x  896  ft.;  ice-making,  100  x  218 
ft. ;  ice  storage,  68  x  218  ft. ;  engine  room,  60  x  170  ft. ; 
boiler  room,  53  x  170  ft.;  pump  room,  25  x  38  ft.; 
machine  shop  and  store  room,  64  x  96  ft.;  laundry, 
24  X  50  ft.  In  addition  there  are  a  few  miscellaneous 
buildings  and  a  concrete  reservoir  65  x  65  ft.  in  plan. 
For  its  operation  the  refrigerating  plant  requires  4,000,- 
000  gal.  of  water  daily,  which  is  obtained  from  a  river 
§  of  a  mile  distant,  by  means  of  a  16-in.  pipe  line  and 
a  pumping  station.  A  general  layout  is  shown  in 
Fig.  8. 

The  engine,  boiler  and  pump-room  equipment  in- 
cludes eight  225-hp.  boilers  (Fig.  9),  four  refrigerating 
machines  with  a  total  capacity  of  1100  tons  refrigera- 
tion, equivalent  to  the  cooling  effect  obtained  from  the 
melting  of  1100  tons  of  ice  daily.  There  are  two  150 
kva.  electric  generators  and  three  turbine-driven  cen- 
trifugal pumps,  each  with  a  capacity  of  1800  gal.  per 
minute,  or  a  total  capacity  of  5400  gal.  per  minute. 

Refrigeration  is  by  direct  expansion  of  ammonia  cir- 
culating in  coils  hung  from  the  ceiling  of  the  refrigera- 
tor building,  which  is  divided  into  five  rooms,  each  with 
a  capacity  of  about  1000  tons  of  meat.  Means  are  also 
provided  for  storing  vegetables  and  other  products  at 
a  somewhat  higher  temperature  than  the  zero  degrees 
maintained  in  the  meat-storage  rooms.     As  an  indica- 

[     90 


tion  of  the  immense  size  of  this  plant,  it  may  be  noted 
that  for  the  refrigerating  coils  alone  30  miles  of  2-in. 
pipe  were  required. 

"While  the  original  plans  for  the  manufacture  of 
ice,  as  distinguished  from  the  provision  of  refrigeration 
in  the  meat-storage  rooms,  have  been  modified  for  a 
smaller  output,  the  plant  is  nevertheless  equipped  to 
produce  ice.  In  the  ice-making  building,  there  are  six 
freezing  tanks,  each  with  a  capacity  of  62J  tons  of  ice 
daily.  The  freezing  tanks  contain  a  solution  of  brine 
cooled  by  26  miles  of  li-in.  iron  pipe. 

Into  the  construction  of  the  refrigerating  plant  4,000,- 
000  ft.  b.m.  of  lumber,  equivalent  to  about  6000  tons, 
have  entered.  Insulation  for  the  cold-storage  rooms, 
roofing  paper,  insulating  paper,  and  brick  for  boiler 
settings,  represented  a  tonnage  of  2600,  while  2000 
tons  is  the  weight  of  the  mechanical  equipment  for  the 
plant.  Then,  too,  there  are  items  of  400  tons  of  salt 
and  200  tons  of  ammonia,  including  the  weight  of  the 
drums  in  which  it  is  shipped.  Summing  up,  the  re- 
frigerating plant  represents  a  tonnage  of  11,200.  This 
figure  is  important  when  it  is  recalled  that  practically 
everything  which  entered  into  the  construction  of  the 
plant  had  to  be  shipped  from  the  United  States.  In 
addition,  concrete  for  footings,  walls,  engine  founda- 
tions, etc.,  was  required,  most  of  the  cement  for  this 
purpose  having  been  obtained  from  Europe.  Exclusive 
of  the  cost  of  transportation  from  the  United  States — 
itself  an  item  of  no  mean  size  under  present  conditions 
— the  refrigerating  plant  represents  an  outlay  of  more 
than  $2,000,000. 

Obviously,  such  work  as  that  required  for  the  in- 
stallation of  a  large  plant  of  this  kind  could  have  been 
handled  only  by  specialists.  This  fact  was  appreciated 
last  year,  and  while  the  designs  were  being  prepared 
at  Washington  there  was  organized  a  so-called  ice  plant 
company  of  engineers  of  about  350  men,  most  of  whom 
were  recruited  from  the  personnel  of  the  large  packing 
com.panies  of  the  Middle  West.  Actual  work  on  the  re- 
frigerating plant  was  started  in  France  in  December, 
1917,  but  the  promise  by  those  in  charge  of  the  instal- 
lation that  operation  could  be  begun  in  five  months 
was  regarded  with  skepticism  in  some  quarters.    Never- 

] 


theless,  in  spite  of  all  the  difficulties  which  surround 
construction  work  in -France  these  days,  this  promise 
was  fulfilled  ahead  of  schedule,  and  the  placing  of  the 
works  in  operation  on  May  2  of  this  year  is  a  splendid 
tribute  to  the  men  of  the  ice  plant  company. 

In  explaining  to  me  the  plans  for  the  refrigerating 
plant,  which  were  prepared  under  the  direction  of  the 
cantonment  division  of  the  Quartermaster  Department 
— now  known  as  the  construction  division — a  major 
of  the  Quartermaster  Corps  who  is  an  expert  on  re- 
frigeration mentioned  a  few  of  the  outstanding  features 
ot  the  design.  Great  pains  have  been  taken  to  insure 
flexibility  in  the  layout  of  the  piping.  A  break  would 
be  serious,  especially  over  here  where  ammonia  losses 
eannot  be  so  easily  replaced  as  in  the  United  States. 
Horizontal  return-tube  boilers  were  selected  on  the 
grounds  of  ease  of  installation  and  ease  of  shipment. 
On  the  liquid  ammonia  lines  ample  provision  is  made 
for  expansion  and — a  very  important  point — these  lines 
are  sectionalized  by  the  introduction  of  valves  at  fre- 
quent points ;  in  case  of  a  break  a  section  of  piping  may 
be  at  once  cut  out  of  the  system  and  ammonia  losses 
thereby  greatly  reduced. 

Provision  is  made  for  the  use  of  exhaust  steam  for 
distilled-water  ice  which  may  be  needed  for  special 
purposes,  as,  for  example,  in  hospitals.  In  the  m.anu- 
facture  of  ice  which,  in  the  case  of  the  plant  at  the  in- 
termediate depot,  is  accomplished  by  suspending  cans 
of  water  in  a  brine  solution,  the  impurities  in  the  water 
are  forced  toward  the  center  of  the  block  as  the  freezing 
operation  progresses  from  the  outside  inward.  To  offset 
this  trouble  pipe  lines  are  introduced  which,  when  the 
block  is  partially  frozen,  suck  out  the  impure  water  at 
the  core,  and  replace  it  with  clean  water.  A  clear  block 
of  ice  is  the  result. 

By  maintaining  a  zero  temperature  in  the  freezing 
rooms,  and  allowing  meat  to  remain  there  four  days 
before  shipment,  it  will  be  possible  to  dispense  with 
special  refrigerating  cars  and  to  forward  the  frozen 
meat  in  plain  box-cars.  This  feature  of  the  plant  op- 
eration is  an  exceedingly  important  one  in  view  of 
the  present  car  shortage  in  France  and  the  undesirabil- 
ity  of  introducing  special  cars  for  special  purposes. 

Provision  is  also  made  in  the  operation  of  the  plant 
for  salvaging  oil.  Judged  by  many  other  engineering 
structures  which  have  been  built  by  our  engineers  in 
France,  the  plant  occupies  an  almost  unique  position. 
1  was  told  that  it  had  been  built  exactly  in  accordance 
with  the  drawings. 


A  view  of  the  refrigerating  building  (Fig.  11)  from 
the  roof  of  the  ammonia  condenser  shows  that  the  fea- 
ture of  our  plant,  so  far  as  the  layout  of  this  building  is 
concerned,  is  the  use  of  a  long,  low,  single-story  struc- 
ture, rather  than  a  more  compact  building  of  several 
stories  as  is  common  elsewhere.  The  advantage  of  the 
layout  adopted  is  that  long  trains  can  be  quickly  loaded 
and  unloaded.  The  main  refrigerating  building,  meas- 
uring 896  x  112  ft.,  will  accommodate  25  freight  cars 
on  each  side. 

The  successful  completion  of  the  refrigerating  plant 
is  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  precautions  taken  in 
America  in  the  crating,  marking  and  shipping  of  the 
multitude  of  mechanical  parts  required.  At  Washing- 
ton the  delivery  of  the  material  ready  for  shipment 


Photograph  by  Engineerino  News-Record 

FIG.    11.     HOW  CARS   ARE  HANDLED  AT  THE  BEEF 
STORAGE    BUILDING 

abroad  was  controlled  by  charts,  and  shipments  were 
well  coordinated,  and  as  a  result  the  machinery  arrived 
in  France  when  and  as  needed — a  most  remarkable  per- 
formance when  one  considers  the  unprecedented  volume 
of  transatlantic  freight  now  being  carried  and  the  diffi- 
culties involved  in  avoiding  mistakes  and  delays. 


[     91     1 


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